Kerala asks Centre to declare coastal erosion as disaster
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Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Thursday wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi requesting the Centre to declare coastal erosion as a natural disaster and also to double the disaster relief amount.
The move comes in view of loss and damage in the state's coastline which is exposed to rogue waves during cyclonic phenomena and monsoon season.
He said that increasing the relief amount to the people would be beneficial to the state government in the wake of COVID 19.
The Prime Minister has also been asked to double the relief available when the norms are revised.
In the letter, Vijayan told PM that Kerala has a coastline of 590 km spread across nine coastal districts and added that the Central Government has permission to assist the people in the event of state-level disasters from the annual allocation to SDRF (state disaster response fund) and NDRF for up to 10 per cent.
Accordingly, Kerala has already declared coastal erosion as a state-level disaster.
He added that the central government has not taken such a decision and given the current situation, SDRF-NDRF assistance cannot be given for losses due to coastal erosion.
"Therefore, the state has demanded that coastal erosion be declared a natural disaster," Vijayan told.
He said the state government is currently providing assistance in the case of natural calamities as per the recommendations of the 14th Finance Commission whereas the central government is in the process of revising the norms on relief to people through SDRMF and NDRMF as per the recommendations of the 15th Finance Commission.
