TRIVANDRUM: Chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan has taken over the portfolio of disaster management in a major reshuffle. But the move has not boded well with alliance partner CPI and the Revenue ministry. Revenue minister K Rajan who returned last evening from Saudi has already called for an immediate meeting with CPI leadership.

In all previous ministries, the portfolio of disaster management was under the revenue ministry. The portfolio was lying vacant for a long. With the section going to the chief minister himself which is unprecedented, the revenue ministry is concerned about the tangles that will come by in the coming months. From now on, the relief money allotted for any disaster by the revenue minister to the revenue additional chief secretary will get sanctioned only after getting a sign from the chief minister.

During the calamity of the 2018 floods, disaster management was quickly taken under the control of chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan for a brief period.