Sri Lanka announces raft of relief for Ditwah-affected; Prez says life restored to normalcy
Colombo (PTI): Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake on Saturday said his government has been able to restore public life to normalcy within a very short period after Cyclone Ditwah devastated the island nation and took over 600 lives.
Dissanayake's claim came a day after he announced a massive relief package to all those affected by Cyclone Ditwah and requested the IMF for an additional USD 200 million to meet excess expenditure to cope up with the disaster.
The International Monetary Fund's (IMF) Colombo office on Saturday said the request would be considered at the global lender’s executive board on December 15.
The island nation has been grappling with widespread flooding, landslides and severe infrastructure collapse following Cyclone Ditwah, which has also acutely strained the country's disaster-response capacity.
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As many as 611 people had died and over 200 remained missing even as search operations for those buried under landslides continued a week after the cyclone struck the country.
Data from the Disaster Management Centre (DMC), as of Saturday evening, showed 1,14,126 persons from at least 33,622 families have taken refuge at 956 shelters.
Dissanayake visited the central district of Kandy, which was the worst hit by the disaster with 232 deaths and 81 disappearances as of Saturday and also tops the list for the number of houses destroyed totally and partially.
Although some expected it would take a long time for the country to recover after the Ditwah cyclone disaster, the government has already been able to restore public life to normalcy within a very short period, Dissanayake said at Kandy.
Dissanayake visited one of the relief camps in Kandy and spoke with the survivors and the displaced.
He also reviewed the progress of the rapid programmes underway to restore essential infrastructure in the district, including the highway network, electricity, water and fuel supply, irrigation systems and communication facilities.
The president also instructed that water supply in the district be fully restored within three days and gave a December 31 deadline for restoring the electricity supply in the district.
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Earlier on Friday, Dissanayake, who is also the Minister of Finance, told the parliament that the maximum amount of grant is to be given to the families of those who lost their lives and to the cyclone-hit agri-land holders.
He announced LKR 1 million for each life lost and LKRs 1,50,000 per hectare for replanting paddy and other grains affected among other grants for several sectors.
Announcing the formation of a National Task Force for Reconstruction, the president also announced a one off grant of LKR 50,000 for purchasing essential household items for homes destroyed; a LKR 25,000 monthly allowance for three months for families leaving evacuation centres to rent alternative housing; LKR 2,00,000 grant to restart registered livestock farms destroyed by the disaster, and LKR 4,00,000 compensation for each registered fishing boat completely damaged.
He also announced LKR 5 million grant to construct a new house for fully destroyed homes, and LKR 5 million grant for land acquisition to rebuild homes lost to disaster.
The Central Bank too on Friday announced temporary debt relief for businesses affected with new loan facilities for the affected borrowers.
Meanwhile, an IMF representative in Sri Lanka on Saturday said that the island nation’s request for additional USD 200 million outside the USD 340 million due as the sixth tranche of the IMF bail out “would be considered” by the global lender’s executive board on December 15.
Evan Papageorgiou, IMF Mission Chief for Sri Lanka, in a statement acknowledged the scale of destruction in the wake of the devastating impact and widespread destruction caused by Cyclone Ditwah.
“The Sri Lankan government has formally requested approximately USD 200 million under the IMF’s Rapid Financing Instrument (RFI) — equivalent to 26 percent of the country’s quota. This request is currently under consideration and subject to approval by the IMF Executive Board,” the statement said.
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Screenwriter Salim Khan on ventilator support and stable, say doctors
Mumbai (PTI): Veteran screenwriter Salim Khan suffered a brain haemorrhage which has been tackled, is on ventilator support as a safeguard and stable, doctors treating him said on Wednesday, a day after he was admitted to the Lilavati Hospital here.
The 90-year-old, one half of the celebrated Salim-Javed duo which scripted films such as "Sholay", "Deewar" and "Don" with Javed Akhtar, is in the ICU and recovery might take some time given his age.
"His blood pressure was high for which we treated him and we had to put him on a ventilator because we wanted to do certain investigations. Now the ventilator was put as a safeguard so that his situation doesn't get worse. So it is not that he is critical," Dr Jalil Parkar told reporters.
"We did the investigations that were required and today we have done a small procedure on him, I will not go into the details. The procedure done is called DSA (digital subtraction angiography). The procedure has been accomplished, he is fine and stable and shifted back to ICU. By tomorrow, we hope to get him off the ventilator. All in all, he is doing quite well," he added.
Asked whether he suffered a brain haemorrhage, the doctor said, "Unko thoda haemorrhage hua tha, which we’ve tackled. No surgery is required.
As concern over Khan's health mounted, his children, including superstar Salman Khan and Arbaaz Khan, daughter Alvira, and sons-in-law Atul Agnihotri and Aayush Sharma, have been seen outside the hospital along with other well-wishers. His long-time partner Akhtar was also seen coming out of the hospital.
Khan, a household name in the 70s and 80s, turned 90 on November 24 last year. It was the day Dharmendra, the star of many of his films, including "Sholay", "Seeta aur Geeta" and "Yaadon Ki Baraat", passed away.
Hailing from an affluent family in Indore, Khan arrived in Mumbai in his 20s with dreams of stardom. He was good looking and confident he would make a mark in the industry as an actor. But that did not happen. And then, after struggling for close to a decade and getting confined to small roles in films, he changed lanes.
He worked as an assistant to Abrar Alvi and soon met Akhtar to form one of Hindi cinema's most formidable writing partnerships. They worked together on two dozen movies with most of them achieving blockbuster status.
Other than "Sholay", "Deewar" and "Don", Khan and Akhtar also penned "Trishul", "Zanjeer", "Seeta Aur Geeta", "Haathi Mere Saathi", "Yaadon Ki Baarat" and "Mr India".
