New Delhi: Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, has urged the Union government to declare the Wayanand landslide mishap as a national disaster.
Amid constant sloganeering in the parliament on Wednesday, Gandhi said, “There has been a tragedy in Wayanad and I am amazed that they are not allowing us to speak and make a statement.”
The Congress leader appealed to the Union government to provide a comprehensive rehabilitation package as well as to enhance compensation being paid to those affected. The Union government had declared that it would pay a compensation of Rs 2 lakh to the families of those who died and Rs 50,000 to those injured.
“I visited Wayanad with my sister some days back and saw firsthand the devastation, pain, and suffering resulting from this tragedy. More than 200 people are dead, and many are missing, but the eventual casualty count is expected to be over 400,” Gandhi said in Lok Sabha.
I visited Wayanad with my sister some days back and saw firsthand the devastation, pain, and suffering resulting from this tragedy. More than 200 people are dead, and many are missing, but the eventual casualty count is expected to be over 400.
I would like to commend the work… pic.twitter.com/r9BAM9OMrs
— Congress (@INCIndia) August 7, 2024
The Congress leader, who had been until recently MP of Wayanand, visited the landslide-hit areas along with his sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on August 1.
Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan also echoed the views of Gandhi, urging the Union government to declare it as a national disaster. “What happened in Wayanad was a significant disaster at the national level….,” said Vijayan.
It is usual practice for political parties and state governments to appeal to the Union government to declare a calamity such as a flood or earthquake a national disaster. However, “there is no provision, executive or legal, to declare a natural calamity as a national calamity”, according to the Indian Express.
Successive governments at the Centre have attempted to classify various disasters, such as “a national calamity of rarest severity” and “calamity of rare severity”. The flash floods in Uttarakhand and Cyclone Hudhud were classified as calamities of “severe nature”.
According to the National Policy on Disaster Management, 2009, an inter-ministerial group, headed by the Union home secretary, studies the assessment and recommends the quantum of assistance from the National Disaster Relief Fund/National Calamity Contingency Fund (NCCF). Based on this, a high-level committee comprising the finance minister as chairman and the home minister, agriculture minister, and planning commission deputy chairman as members approves the central assistance.
The idea behind the demand for a ‘national disaster’ tag for certain calamities is to draw the attention of the Union government and to seek its financial assistance.
