Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Wednesday, in the Lok Sabha, highlighted the plight of the victim families on the one-year anniversary of the landslide in Kerala’s Wayanad and urged the central government to waive the loans of the families who lost everything in the disaster.
While speaking in the Lok Sabha, the Kerala Wayanad MP said, “It has been one year since a terrible natural disaster struck Wayanad, resulting in the loss of hundreds of lives and the wipeout of 17 whole families. Moreover, 1,600 buildings were destroyed in the Wayanad landslide, and hundreds of acres of land and crops were destroyed, affecting the livelihoods of farmers and businesses.”
Highlighting the plight of the families affected by the landslide, the Congress leader said that it’s been one year, and “I’m sorry to say that the affected people have not been able to rehabilitate properly due to the lack of support and funding from the Centre.”
“For one year, we’ve been requesting the release of funds for Wayanad. Some funds were released, but they were insufficient and given as loans, which is unprecedented. People have lost their lives and entire livelihoods, and we expect them to repay loans while rebuilding their lives?” Priyanka Gandhi said.
She pointed out that “we requested that it be declared a national disaster,” which wasn’t done initially, but it was finally designated as a disaster of a severe nature.
“However, this hasn’t been enough, as the victims’ families are still struggling one year later. It’s my honest and heartfelt request on behalf of the people of Wayanad that the Central Government consider waiving these loans, which are a small amount for the Centre,” she demanded.
Tragedy struck Wayanad on July 29 after a landslide occurred in Wayanad, with a huge portion of the mountain wiping out as many as 1,600 homes and leaving more than 300 people dead.
Priyanka Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi had both camped in Wayanad for two days after the tragedy and met several families in hospitals and shelter camps.
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