RUSSIA SHARES INDIA’S GRIEF, SAYS PUTIN

NEW DELHI: Russian President Vladimir Putin has expressed his condolences over the loss of lives and property in Kerala floods and said his country shares the grief with the “friendly people of India”. In a letter dated August 20, addressed to President Ram Nath Kovind and PM Narendra Modi, Putin said, “Kindly accept the deepest condolences over numerous human casualties caused by the devastating floods in Kerala. Russia shares grief with the friendly people of India and hopes for a speedy recovery to all those injured from this natural disaster.”

With water receding, Navy scales down ops

KOCHI: The Navy on Tuesday said it is presently involved in air dropping relief material such as food and has scaled down operations further in view of floodwater receding from many waterlogged areas to manageable levels. The Southern Naval Command (SNC) said no requests for rescue, either by boat or airlift were received and so it has recalled 30 teams deployed for rescue operations.

Free supply of 89,540 tonne grains: Paswan

NEW DELHI: Food minister Ram Vilas Paswan said 89,540 tonne of foodgrains and 100 tonne of pulses will be supplied for free to flood-hit Kerala for distribution among those who are not covered under the food security act. The Centre allocates 1.18 lakh tonne of foodgrains monthly to the state.