Thiruvananthapuram, Dec 10 Congress General Secretary and Alappuzha Congress MP K.C.Venugopal on Tuesday slammed Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s cold response to the offer of his Karnataka counterpart Siddaramaiah’s offer of building 100 homes to people who lost homes in the July Wayanad landslide disaster.
The Kerala government not responding to Siddaramaiah’s letter which is dated December 9 surfaced in the local media on Tuesday.
“It is concerning that no communication has been received from the government of Kerala regarding the necessary guidelines or directions to implement this project preventing us from moving forward with commitment,” reads Siddaramaiah’s letter.
Venugopal said it’s very unfortunate that neither Vijayan nor any of his officials got in touch with the Karnataka government.
“We all heard what Vijayan said blaming the Centre for the delay in extending the Wayanad package that the Kerala government had sought. But we wish to know why there has been a cold response to the offer made by Karnataka,” said Venugopal.
Earlier, Vijayan criticised Union Home Minister Amit Shah over delaying the special package to the state for the rehabilitation of the Wayanad landslide victims.
“This is the worst ever tragedy that the state witnessed but the Centre is trying to run away from doing its job. Home Minister Shah said it’s because of Kerala’s delayed response that funds have not been released so far. But all their (Centre) allegation against the state are baseless,” the Chief Minister said.
Venugopal further said that when Telangana also witnessed problems and was seeking help, the Karnataka government offered help which they (Telangana) accepted.
“Fail to understand why the Kerala government has not done like Telangana,” added Venugopal.
Meanwhile, the Congress MLA at Kalpetta in Wayanad T. Siddique said no one in the state has a clue why the Kerala government is not taking up the reconstruction of the washed-away four villages of Wayanad
“This inordinate delay is a big stumbling block as numerous sponsors big and small who were willing to extend a helping hand for rebuilding the lives of the battered victims are also losing their patience,” said Siddique.
--IANS
sg/dan
Disclaimer: This post has been auto-published from an agency feed without any modifications to the text and has not been reviewed by an editor