Kerala relief items to be converted into cash

Tonnes of relief materials donated for Kerala by individuals and organisations in the UAE will be converted into cash to help rebuild the floodravaged Indian state, a top official of the Emirates Red Crescent (ERC) told Gulf News.

The items donated by various community groups, private firms, educational institutions and individuals have been lying in the warehouses of the Red Crescent as the Indian government was yet to give the green signal for sending them over to Kerala due to the legal restrictions in accepting foreign aid, Gulf News has learnt.

“We still haven’t got the permission to send the materials from here,” confirmed Fahd Abdul Rahman Bin Sultan, deputy secretary general for international aid affairs at ERC.

The ERC has decided to appraise the value of the relief goods and use the equal amount of money for supporting the state with rehabilitation projects. Every donation in kind will be appraised and converted into cash, Bin Sultan said. “Whatever we collected, we will change into cash.”

He said the collected materials will then be channelised to other disaster-hit areas.

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