The Borneo Post

Kerala angry after govt rejects UAE US$100 mln aid offer

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KOCHI, India: Leaders of floodstric­ken Kerala state angrily hit out at India’s national government yesterday for rejecting a US$ 100 million aid offer from the United Arab Emirates as more people entered relief camps to escape the devastatio­n.

More than 1.3 million people have now packed into temporary camps even though the floods, which have left at least 420 dead and missing, are fast receding.

The New Delhi government infuriated the Kerala administra­tion by rejecting the cash offer from the wealthy Gulf state.

Kerala’s Finance Minister Thomas Isaac accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government of adopting a ‘dog-inthe-manger’ policy by refusing the money.

The communist minister added in a Twitter attack that if the right wing national government takes a ‘negative stance’ on the UAE offer ‘they should compensate Kerala’.

Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan called for ‘high level’ talks with the national government on the dispute. There are an estimated three million Indians in the UAE, with many from Kerala which has a large Muslim population.

India’s foreign ministry announced late Wednesday however that the government would stick to its policy of ‘meeting the requiremen­ts for relief and rehabilita­tion through domestic efforts’ and not accept money from foreign government­s.

It added that outside money could only be donated through Indian- origin individual­s or foundation­s.

India has a record of refusing foreign aid after disasters, turning down foreign help after the 2004 tsunami, which killed thousands in India. Experts said Indian government­s want to prove they can handle any emergency themselves.

The UAE offer was higher than the US$ 97 million so far given by the central government to handle the floods which state authoritie­s estimate have caused damage worth more than US$ 3 billion.

They say 10,000 kilometres of roads have been destroyed or damaged, while estimates of the number of houses to be rebuilt vary from US$ 20,000 to US$ 50,000.

Many of the new arrivals in relief camps are people who have returned to their homes to find them uninhabita­ble.

One 68-year- old man committed suicide Wednesday after seeing the state of his home at Kothad in Ernakulam district. A 19-yearold boy took his own life earlier this week because his school certificat­es were destroyed by the floods, police said.

Vijayan said there were now 1.34 million people in 3,300 relief camps, up 300,000 in two days.

In another sign of the extent of the chaos, the reopening of Kochi internatio­nal airport, the state’s main airport, has been put back three days to August 29. — AFP

 ??  ?? Fishermen return to the shores from the Arabian Sea at Kollam beach after day’s catch in Kerala. Tourism Minister K.J Alphons has called the fishermen the ‘biggest heroes’ of Kerala’s disaster and state Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has announced a cash reward for each of them and a ceremony to pay tribute. – AFP photo— AFP photo
Fishermen return to the shores from the Arabian Sea at Kollam beach after day’s catch in Kerala. Tourism Minister K.J Alphons has called the fishermen the ‘biggest heroes’ of Kerala’s disaster and state Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has announced a cash reward for each of them and a ceremony to pay tribute. – AFP photo— AFP photo

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