Chennithala urges govt to increase compensation amount for landslide victims

IDUKKI: Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala on Sunday lashed out at Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan over the "discrimination" in awarding solatium to the victims of landslide and aircraft crash and his "failure" to visit those affected in Idukki district.

While visiting the site of the massive landslide which has left 43 dead so far, Chennithala said that the government should increase the compensation amount.
"The government should increase the compensation amount for the landslide victims. The government should provide Rs 10 lakh compensation," Chennithala said.
The Chief Minister had on Saturday said the focus of the government was to complete the rescue operations, only after which the actual loss could be ascertained.
Hence it was decided to pay an interim amount as compensation as the government had a responsibility to take care of those who lost everything, ensure their livelihood and rebuild their lives.
The state government had announced Rs five lakh solatium to the families of those who killed in the landslide and Rs 10 lakh to the next of kin of those who died in the plane crash. Vijayan had also he had visited a hospital in Karipur to meet the injured as the rescue operations were over, while it was still on in Idukki.
State ministers E Chandrashekaran, M M Mani and K Raju were now coordinating the rescue measures there.
43 bodies have so far been were recovered from the landslide struck area.
Seventy eight people were staying in the area when the tragedy occurred.