Financial assistance to Wayanad is the responsibility of Centre: M V Govindan

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: CPM State Secretary M V Govindan said that the state is not begging for money for the rehabilitation of the disaster victims in Wayanad, but that the Central Government should fulfill its constitutional obligation. He was inaugurating the Raj Bhavan march organized by the LDF against the Central Government's continued neglect of Kerala in the Wayanad disaster.

Even after four months of the worst landslide disaster the country has ever seen, the Central Government is not ready to provide financial assistance. BJP leaders are mocking the disaster victims and Kerala by saying that only two or three wards were washed away. The state government is aiming for rehabilitation in Wayanad that will set an example for the world. About two thousand families need to be rehabilitated. Kerala has demanded financial assistance of more than two thousand crore rupees keeping in mind their future lives. It is welcome that the MPs from Kerala have unanimously submitted this in the form of a memorandum to the Union Home Minister. As a general sentiment of Kerala, we should continue to move forward in unity. Three BJP MPs abstained from submitting a petition raising the demand of Kerala. Govindan said that Kerala will implement the targeted rehabilitation project in Wayanad whether the Centre provides assistance or not.

The police stopped the march that started from Museum Junction in front of the Raj Bhavan. The dharna was chaired by CPM District Secretary V Joy MLA. Pannyan Raveendran, Sebastian Kulathungal MLA, Kollamcode Raveendran Nair, Adv. Satheesh Kumar, V Surendran Pillai, Uzhamalaykkal Venugopal, Vamanapuram Prakash Kumar, M M Maheen, Poojappura Radhakrishnan, Binoy Joseph, Adv. Pothencode Raveendran, Charles George, Sasikumar Cherukol, ALM Kasim, Mangode Radhakrishnan, S Firoz Lal, Anavoor Nagappan, P Biju, M Vijayakumar, Mayor Arya Rajendran and others participated.