File picture of Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra.
| Photo Credit: ANI
Calling the Wayanad rehabilitation package of ₹529.5 crore announced by the Centre as “inadequate” and the conditions imposed are “unfair”, Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, in a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, urged him to convert the relief package into a grant and extend the time period for its implementation.
The package comes with two conditions: first that the funds shall be disbursed, not as a grant as is the norm, but as a loan, second, that they should be spent in their entirety by March 31, 2025. “These conditions are not only unfair, but also display a shocking lack of sensitivity towards the people of Chooralmala and Mundakkai who have suffered such shattering losses,” Ms. Vadra said.
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Apprising Mr. Modi on the plight of the people of Chooralmala and Mundakkai in Wayanad, the two worst affected areas of the landslides, Ms. Vadra said 110 acres of agricultural land was destroyed, and 658 students still await re-enrolment into schools. People who were dependent on tourism and agriculture were still looking for a means to earn a living. While the people of Wayanad, she said, were “resilient and brave”, it was impossible for them to overcome this catastrophe without “decisive financial and infrastructural support from both the State and Central governments”. “Unfortunately, the rehabilitation process is progressing at a painful pace,” she said.
Pointing out that Mr. Modi had visited the affected areas in the aftermath of this horrific tragedy, she said his visit raised expectations of considerable financial assistance from the Central government.
“Unfortunately, those expectations have not been fulfilled. Moreover, the Central government’s refusal to declare the disaster as a national disaster came as a shock to the victims. Many months later, after sustained pressure from the MPs from Kerala, the declaration of the disaster as a ‘Disaster of Severe Nature’ appeared to be a step in the right direction,” she said.
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2024 calamity
The landslide took place on July 30, 2024, in and around these two habitations of Wayanad district. About 298 people were found dead, 231 bodies were recovered along with 223 body parts and 32 persons were reported missing and declared dead in the aftermath. She said 17 families with members totalling 58 persons were completely wiped out and 1,685 buildings damaged.
“These were houses, schools, village offices, dispensaries, anganwadis, shops, religious centres and government buildings,” she said. The Congress leader said educational institutions — the government vocational higher secondary school, Vellarmala, and the government lower primary school, Mundakkai, — were completely wrecked by the landslide.
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“Permanent rehabilitation of these two institutions at which 658 students were previously enrolled is still awaited,” she said.
People who were dependent on agriculture and tourism were both struggling to earn a living, she said. “Tea, coffee and cardamom were the main crops of this area. Many people who earned their livelihood from these crops and from tourism activities in this region found themselves without any means to earn a living. Jeep and autorickshaw drivers, shop owners, home-stay owners and tourist guides are some of those deprived of a livelihood in the aftermath of the disaster,” Ms. Vadra said.
Published – February 24, 2025 07:27 pm IST