Hopeful Of Getting UAE Aid: Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: As the Kerala government embarked on a fund mobilisation drive for reconstructing the flood-hit state, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said today he was hopeful of getting the offer of aid made by the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
His statement assumes significance in the wake of a row over the centre's refusal to accept UAE's reported offer of Rs. 700 crore to the flood-hit state.
At a function organised to honour IAS officers who coordinated in operations to rescue stranded people from flood affected areas, Mr Vijayan said several foreign countries have come forward to help the state.
Referring to the reported offer of Rs. 700 crore made by the UAE to carry out relief operations and centre's decision not to accept it, Mr Vijayan said he does not believe that the stand (of the Centre) would continue.
Noting that the state was receiving good support for fund mobilisation from the country and abroad, Mr Vijayan said the effort should be to make use of it properly.
The chief minister said the state government had asked for a special package to tide over the situation besides the compensation for the loss and damage caused in the devastating deluge.
However, he said there were limitations on part of the centre to fully compensate the loss and damage suffered by the state.
"So the state has to find resources to overcome the shortage of funds for taking up the rehabilitation and rebuilding exercise," Mr Vijayan added.
Alluding to the cabinet decision to appoint KPMG as project consultant partner for rebuilding the state, Mr Vijayan said, "We will not restrict the consultancy to one agency. We will ensure that we get the assistance of all."
As part of the fund mobilisation initiative, the cabinet has decided to seek financial aid from abroad through non-resident Keralites, from major cities in the country and also from educational institutions in the state.
As many as 483 people have lost lives in the state since the onset of the monsoon on May 28 and 14 were still missing.
courtesy : ndtv.com
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Two injuries, one DNF, a DQ as India end messy World Relays campaign
Gaborone (Botswana) (PTI): Amoj Jacob and Ragul Kumar got injured during the men's 4x400m and 4x100 races respectively as India ended their World Athletics Relays campaign in disappointment on the second day of competitions here on Sunday.
The Indian camp had high hopes of making the 2027 World Championships in the men's 4x400m relay but the team did not finish (DNF) the race as Jacob suffered cramps and pulled out of the race after taking the baton from the first leg runner Dharamveer Choudhary. Rajesh Ramesh and Vishal TK were to run in the third and fourth legs.
Those teams which could not qualify for the 2027 Beijing World Championships by reaching the final round of each of the six relay events on Saturday were given another chance in the second qualification round on Sunday.
The top two teams in each of the two heats (in all six relay events) booked the Beijing ticket on Sunday.
India will now have to try and qualify for the World Championships through the Top Lists of the World Athletics, which is a long and tedious process.
In the men's 4x100m race, third leg runner Ragul Kumar fell down the track after failing to hand over the baton inside the exchange zone to fourth leg runner Gurindervir Singh, which clearly showed the lack of coordination among the runners.
Harsh Santosh Raut and Animesh Kujur ran the first two legs.
The Indian quartet was disqualified and Kumar was seen being taken away from the Field of Play with the help of the volunteers.
It was a comedy of errors in the case of the women's 4x100m race, which saw the baton being dropped during an exchange between first leg runner Tamanna and second runner Nithya Gandhe, though the Indians finished the race in 53.09 seconds.
Gandhe started running quite a distance, but after realising that the baton was not in her hand, she turned and ran back to pick it up.
The only silver-lining for the Indian contingent was the national record time in the mixed 4x100m relay race, though the quartet of Ragul Kumar, Nithya Gandhe, Animesh Kujur and Sneha SS finished sixth in heat number two with a time of 41.35 seconds, bettering the previous national mark of 42.30 seconds set in March in Chandigarh.
The mixed 4x400m relay quartet of Theerthesh P Shetty, Kumari Saloni, Nihal William and Rashdeep Kaur ended at fifth in heat number one with a time of 3 minutes and 19.40 seconds.
On Saturday, all the five Indian relay teams had failed to make it to the respective final rounds and thus missed out on the 2027 World Championships berths.
