Thiruvananthapuram: The Indian Air force has sent a bill of Rs 113.69 crore to the state government for the massive rescue operations carried out by the force during the devastating floods in August 2018.
The Air Force had deployed helicopters and aircraft to rescue hundreds of people stuck in flood affected districts of the state. The live saving effort of the Air Force was not for free which is evident from the hefty bill handed out to the state government.
However, official sources said defence forces sending bills to state governments for rescue operations was a normal procedure. “Someone has to pay for the resources used by the Air Force for rescue operations. Either it has to be from the funds given to states by the National Disaster Management Authority or from the funds set aside by the Centre for disaster management. The government has made it clear that it is not in position to foot the bill in the current situation,” said Dr V Venu, CEO Rebuild Kerala Initiative.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan shot off a letter to defence minister Rajnath Singh requesting him to exempt Kerala from paying the amount to Air Force.
He reminded the minister that Kerala was struck by back to back disaster Ockhi in 2017 and devastating floods in 2018 which had resulted in extensive damage to life and property besides creating stress on the fragile financial situation of the state.
The Chief Minister pointed out that the UN in its Post-Disaster Needs Assessment (PDNA) report had stated that Rs 31,000 crore were required for restoration of infrastructure and to meet other losses. However, the additional assistance received from National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) was only Rs 2,904.85 crore. The amount was too little when compared to total recovery needs.
The government had launched Rebuild Kerala Initiative (RKI) to ensure better standards of living for all sections of society. The government requires additional resources for this purpose and the requirement has to be met from different sources.
Pinarayi said in these circumstances it would be difficult to mobilise such a huge amount due to IAF from the State Disaster Relief Fund. He urged the Union minister to exempt Rs 113,69,34,899 due to the Indian Air Force.
The Centre had informed the state that the latter owed Rs 291.14 crore for rescue operations, operational expenses of IAF and the foodgrains provided by the Centre to Kerala for feeding the flood-hit.
