Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru (MS)
Mangaluru, Aug 22: It is learnt through reliable sources the Central government may not accept the financial aid offered by foreign countries and agencies. This means that Rs 700 crore aid offer by UAE also will not be accepted.
The sources say that the government feels that it can handle the calamity by itself with in-house resources without depending on overseas donations. However, the final verdict in this regard will be taken by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA). The sources at MEA said that they have not received any communication in this regard as of now.
Since 2007, India has not accepted any aid from a country or a multinational organisation and the policy will remain the same for the present calamity also as per the sources. Even during the floods in Uttarakhand and Kashmir, the Centre had declined any foreign assistance.
Syed Akbaruddin, who was the spokesperson for the ministry of external affairs in 2013, had said after the 2013 Uttarakhand floods that India had declined Russia’s offer of help as India had the adequate ability to deal with an emergency of any nature.
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) had offered a mammoth amount of USD 100 million (around Rs 700 crore) as financial assistance for flood relief operation in Kerala on Tuesday, August 21.
As per the information given by Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan in Thiruvananthapuram, Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the crown prince of Abu Dhabi, called up Prime Minister Modi and made this offer.
It is understood that the UN is also offering aid for Kerala. The government of Maldives has also offered to donate USD 50,000 (Rs 35 lac) as an aid for flood-affected people in Kerala. However, sources said that the government of India is unlikely to accept the assistance.
But it seems that the decision to accept or decline UAE’s offer for help is politically motivated. It might be recalled that the Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan has in a series of tweets expressed his gratitude to UAE for their generosity.
In one of the tweets, Pinarayi had said, “The state has a privileged relationship with the UAE. It is like a second country for the Kerala community, and we express our thanks and appreciation to the brotherly state of the United Arab Emirates for this support.”
231 people have lost their lives in the last 10 days in the floods that is the worst ever to hit Kerala for over a century. In addition, 14 lac people are rendered homeless.
The state government of Kerala has sought a special package of Rs 2,600 crore from the Centre for the massive rebuilding exercise of its people. So far the center has released a grant of only Rs 600 crore. The chief minister had earlier said the state had suffered damages of about Rs 20,000 crore.
The situation in Kerala was declared as a ‘Severe Calamity’ but not amounting to declare as a national calamity by the ministry of home affairs on Monday, August 20, and clarified that there is no provision to declare any calamity as national calamity under the Disaster Management Act.
The rains have subsided considerably in the last two days in Kerala. However, vast stretches of land still remain underwater in the districts of Ernakulam, Thrissur, Pathanamthitta, Alappuzha and Kollam.
The state government of Kerala has asked the center to increase its borrowing limit and also sought permission to impose a 10 percent cess on GST to mobilize funds for rebuilding the devastated state.