State govt has funds in SDRF for Wayanad rehabilitation Centre to Kerala HC

Kochi, Nov 15 (PTI) The Centre on Friday informed the Kerala High Court that money for Wayanad rehabilitation was available in the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) and information regarding allocation of any additional funds for it will be conveyed by the end of the month.

The submission from the central government came during the hearing of a plea initiated by the High Court for prevention and management of natural disasters in the state in the wake of the landslides that devastated three villages in Wayanad district of Kerala.

The state government on the other hand told the court that the Centre in a letter has said it will not allocate any more funds, than what has already been allocated, for the rehabilitation of the disaster victims.

It claimed that no positive assurance has been received from the Centre.

A bench of justices A K Jayasankaran Nambiar and K V Jayakumar, however, did not agree with the state's stand and questioned whether it was based on media reports.

The bench told the state government that the Centre has not said that it will not provide more assistance.

It said that while news reports may appear to indicate that nothing will be provided, if you look at the details, it does not seem so.

The state's contentions were based on news reports and the letter received from the Centre.

The Centre in a letter to the state had said that under the existing guidelines of SDRF and NDRF, there is no provision to declare any calamity a 'national disaster'.

The matter will be heard next on Friday, the court said.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)