Member of Parliament from Wayanad, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, on Monday wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, urging him to change the provisions of the recently-announced central fund for the relief of the landslide victims in her constituency. She requested the prime minister not to treat this central fund as a loan, as has been done, but to convert it into a grant with an extended period for its full utility.
“After continuous urging from the MPs of Kerala, the central government has recently announced a relief package of Rs 529. 50 crore for the victims of the devastation. Apart from the fact of its inadequacy, it is unprecedented that 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 31st March 2025. These conditions are not only immensely unfair, they display a shocking lack of sensitivity towards the people of Chooralmala and Mundakkai, who have suffered such shattering losses”, she said in her letter.
