Centre Approves Rs 2,500 Crore For Kerala Flood Relief,Wants Rs 290 Crore Back For Rescue Operations
New Delhi, Nov 30: The central government has approved an additional sum of Rs 2,500 crore for relief and rehabilitation work in Kerala, three months after floods ravaged 14 districts of the state, killing 483 people.
The relief amount sanctioned by the Centre is in addition to the Rs 600 crore it had granted as interim relief earlier, Indian Express reported. It, however, falls far short of the Rs 4,800 crore sought by the Pinarayi Vijayan government in September, when it had submitted a memorandum to the Centre, detailing the losses.
The relief fund was cleared by a committee headed by union home secretary Rajiv Gauba, and will now be sent to a high-level committee headed by home minister Rajnath Singh, who will announce the package along with finance minister Arun Jaitley and agriculture minister Radha Mohan Singh.
Following the furore over the Centre turning down the UAE’s offer of Rs 700 crore aid, the Centre had released Rs 600 crore as advance assistance.
According to a preliminary estimate, the loss and damage due to the rain fury was Rs 20,000 crore, but Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has said it would be much more. The deluge in the state was dubbed as the worst in a century and caused widespread destruction.
The Centre, while approving additional funds for Kerala, has reportedly also sought Rs 290 crore from the cash-strapped state.
Vijayan told the Assembly on Thursday that the Centre sought the amount towards the cost of launching aircraft for the rescue mission during the recent floods and supplying rations to flood-affected people.
He also said the amount that reached the Chief Minister’s Distress Relief Fund, around Rs 2700 crore, would not be sufficient to meet the cost of flood-relief activities.
Courtesy: www.news18.com
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Another North Goa nightclub sealed; Kejriwal says corruption led to fire tragedy
Panaji (PTI): As part of a crackdown against tourist establishments violating laws and safety norms in the aftermath of the Arpora fire tragedy, Goa authorities on Saturday sealed a renowned club at Vagator and revoked the fire department NOC of another club.
Cafe CO2 Goa, located on a cliff overlooking the Arabian Sea at Vagator beach in North Goa, was sealed. The move came two days after Goya Club, also in Vagator, was shut down for alleged violations of rules.
Elsewhere, campaigning for local body polls, AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal said the fire incident at Birch by Romeo Lane nightclub at Arpora, which claimed 25 lives on December 6, happened because the BJP government in the state was corrupt.
An inspection of Cafe CO2 Goa by a state government-appointed team revealed that the establishment, with a seating capacity of 250, did not possess a no-objection certificate (NOC) of the Fire and Emergency Services Department. The club, which sits atop Ozrant Cliff, also did not have structural stability, the team found.
The Fire and Emergency Services on Saturday also revoked the NOC issued to Diaz Pool Club and Bar at Anjuna as the fire extinguishers installed in the establishment were found to be inadequate, said divisional fire officer Shripad Gawas.
A notice was issued to Nitin Wadhwa, the partner of the club, he said in the order.
Campaigning at Chimbel village near Panaji in support of his party's Zilla Panchayat election candidate, Aam Aadmi Party leader Kejriwal said the nightclub fire at Arpora happened because of the "corruption of the Pramod Sawant-led state government."
"Why this fire incident happened? I read in the newspapers that the nightclub had no occupancy certificate, no building licence, no excise licence, no construction licence or trade licence. The entire club was illegal but still it was going on," he said.
"How could it go on? Couldn't Pramod Sawant or anyone else see it? I was told that hafta (bribe) was being paid," the former Delhi chief minister said.
A person can not work without bribing officials in the coastal state, Kejriwal said, alleging that officers, MLAs and even ministers are accepting bribes.
