Centre rejected state's repeated requests to waive off the amount. Kerala cited its poor financial health while seeking exemption.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi conducting an aerial survey of the flood-affected areas in Kerala on 18 August 2018. (Wikimedia Commons)
Kerala will pay ₹223.85 crore it owes the Centre for 89,540 metric tonnes of rice that was additionally allocated during the savage floods of 2018 and 2019.
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan approved the clearance of dues after the Centre warned of initiating steps to recover the pending sum from the food subsidy payable to the state.
The state had requested a waiver of the amount citing the financial crisis caused by the Ockhi cyclone, floods and Covid-19. It said paying the sum would “further limit the scarce resources available to the State for relief and rehabilitation”.
On 21 May, Vijayan requested the Prime Minister’s intervention to use the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) to underwrite the cost of rice allotted to Kerala.
The state chief secretary, too, wrote to the Centre, requesting to exempt Kerala from paying ₹205.81 crore to the Food Corporation of India (FCI).
“Dear Shri. Modiji,
Kind attention is invited to my letter dated August 18, 2018, wherein I had requested for your kind consideration for sanctioning one month’s allocation of 1.18 lakh MT of food grains to the State free of cost, additionally for distribution to the flood-affected families… [sic]”, Vijayan had written in his letter.
Around 500 people were killed and more than 10 lakh others were displaced in the catastrophic floods in 2018. (Wikimedia Commons)
The letter mentioned that the state had received a communication from the Ministry of Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution on the additional 89,540 metric tonnes of rice provided at minimum support price rates.
“I would, therefore, once again request for your kind intervention to give necessary instruction to the Ministry concerned so that the decision for the additional allocation of 89,540 MT of rice to Kerala for flood relief at MSP derived rate is reconsidered and the allocation is made free of cost,” Vijayan concluded the letter.
According to a United Nations report, Kerala suffered a loss of ₹31,000 crore in the 2018 floods.
Responding to Vijayan’s request, Minister of Food and Public Distribution Piyush Goel said his department examined the matter and drew the chief minister’s attention to ₹2,904 crore the Ministry of Home Affairs had granted Kerala to meet the relief requirements.
“…the MHA letter dated 17.08.2018 to State Govt. of Kerala, it was mentioned that an amount of Rs.2904.85 crore had already been released from NDRF to meet the relief requirement of the losses caused by floods during 2018-19”, Goel noted in his letter dated 27 July.
The state should reimburse the payment “by way of subsequent adjustments against the eligible entitlement of the State Government on NDRF or other schemes including Food Security Act, etc…”, the letter said.
Goyal also warned that since the matter has been pending for over three years, the department might initiate action for recovering the pending payment.
“From the above, factual position, you will also agree that the State Government, already having received the relief is required to reimburse the same to the Food Corporation of India,” Goel said.
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