Kerala Floods: Modify rules to facilitate foreign funding, says Opposition

Union minister says govt is following a 14-year convention it inherited from previous governments of not accepting such assistance during natural calamities

Opposition parties, including the Congress and CPI(M), on Thursday trained its guns on the Centre asking it to remove obstacles in accepting foreign aid for rain-ravaged Kerala, including Rs 700 crore offered by the UAE, even as government justified the stand.

Union Minister Alphons Kannanthanam defended the Centre's decision, saying in refusing foreign aid for rehabilitation of the flood-hit state, the government has followed a 14-year convention it "inherited" from previous governments of not accepting such assistance in the face of natural calamities.

Joining the issue, CPI(M) Kerala state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan said the Centre should make changes in the convention to get Kerala assistance from foreign countries. In a Facebook post, he termed as "wrong" the Centre's decision to refuse UAE's aid offer.

Rs 50cr
Amount Adani Foundation has donated to the Kerala Chief Minister's Distress Relief Fund

Normalcy returns
Parts of flood-ravaged Kerala began limping to normalcy as rains kept away from the state for a second successive day on Thursday, but officials admitted there was a long way to go for the human suffering to abate. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan flew to a handful of over 3,000 relief centres housing over one million people and promised that his government would do everything possible to help them.

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