Punjab CM announces `10 cr immediate relief to Ker Govt

CHANDIGARH: Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh has announced Rs 10 crore immediate relief for the flood-ravaged Kerala, where 106 people died on a single day on Thursday as the state plunged deeper into misery with hospitals facing shortage of oxygen and fuel stations running dry.

According to an official statement, while Rs 5 crore is being transferred from the Punjab Chief Minister’s Relief Fund to Kerala counterpart’s relief fund, the remaining Rs 5 crore will be in the form of ready-to-eat food material and other supplies, to be flown there with the help of the Defence Ministry.

“First, air force sortie is expected to take off tomorrow to deliver 30 tonnes of readyto-eat foods, such as biscuits, rusks, bottled water and milk powder to the flood-hit state. About one lakh food packets are to be sent in the first consignment. The remaining will be dispatched as and when requisitioned by the Kerala government,” it said here on Friday.

A total of four sorties, each carrying 30 tonnes ready-to-eat foods, would be undertaken, the statement said, adding the Punjab government was pulling out all stops to ensure timely relief measures for the crisis-ridden Kerala.

The deadliest deluge in close to a century has claimed 173 lives in Kerala since August 8, and dealt a body blow to the scenic state, wrecking its tourism industry, destroying standing crops in thousands of hectares and inflicting huge damage to infrastructure.