Centre will take care of Wayanad: Nirmala

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has said that the Centre will take care of the landslides-hit Wayanad district in Kerala.

“Whatever will have to be done for Wayanad will be done. Let Kerala be assured about it,” she told mediapersons here on Monday while responding to a question on the unanimous resolution adopted by the Kerala Assembly against the delay in the Centre’s financial assistance to Wayanad.

She was in town to attend the ‘Meet the Great Leaders’ programme organised by the Prof. K. V Thomas Vidhyadhanam Trust at St. Teresa’s College, Ernakulam.

“It breaks to see the pain that Wayanad had gone through. Some parts of India have been very unfortunate of extreme climatic events. There was never a hesitation by the Centre to help the States when they were hit by these kinds of tragic events,” she said.

On criticism that the Prime Minister had used the tragic event as a photo-op, Ms. Sitharaman said that “let us not be heartless to say that it was a photo opportunity”. “Stop being negative, not you, but whoever has said it,” she said in response to the query.

She recalled that the Prime Minister had given standing instructions to use every assistance possible at the time of Cyclone Ockhi that wreaked havoc in southern Kerala in 2017. He had also extended a similar help during the fireworks tragedy at the temple [Puttingal Devi Temple] at Kollam in 2016, she said.

Responding to a question on students from Kerala migrating to other countries asked as part of her interaction with students on the occasion, Ms. Sitharaman said migration was not something new to the State. However, she blamed the system of ‘nokkukooli’ (gawking wages) as one of the reasons for the migration of youth. “Despite the advancement in technology, Kerala continues to remain in the 1960s era where nokkukooli reigned supreme. Such problems should be done away with,” she said.

Published - October 14, 2024 08:23 pm IST