LDF seeks Rs. 100-cr. flood relief

By Our Special Correspondent

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, AUG. 29. The LDF State committee has sought Rs. 100-crore Central assistance to tackle flood havoc in Kerala.

Briefing presspersons about the deliberations of the LDF committee meeting here today, the Front convener, Mr. V.S. Achuthanandan, said floods had claimed 119 lives, damaged about 10,000 houses and destroyed crops in tens of thousands of acres. The crop damage was particularly serious in the case of paddy which was ready for harvest in many parts of the State. The floods had also caused heavy loss of property all over the State.

The LDF convener said the committee had also requested the Government to implement the Agriculture Minister's promise to procure coconut to stem the fall in coconut prices. The Government, he noted, had implemented its decision to provide relief to rubber growers by going in for rubber procurement. Coconut growers were the worst hit by the liberal import policy of the BJP Government at the Centre, he added.

Mr. Achuthanandan said the LDF would come out with a policy statement on the upcoming panchayat elections on September 5, but refused to throw any light on the concepts that would form the basis of the statement. On the seat sharing talks among LDF constituents, he said the picture would be clear by September 4. The discussions, he claimed, were progressing smoothly and had been completed in many districts.

The number of seats that each constituent had contested and won in the last election would naturally form the basis of the sharing exercise, he pointed out. Any change in the number of seats to be contested by a constituent would be decided on mutually agreed principles, he added.

The LDF, he said, would accommodate in its lists those who come out of the UDF in protest against moves for clandestine understanding between the Congress(I) and the BJP. All such issues would be decided by the LDF committees at the local level on the basis of the kind of assurances that the UDF dissidents give.

Mr. Achuthanandan parried the question whether discussions with the Muslim League in Kannur and Kasaragod had been completed. He would only say that the matter could be clarified by reporters directly from Kannur and Kasaragod. Asked to comment on the Indian National League's voluntary offer of support for the LDF, he said the INL was free to do so.

Mr. Achuthanandan also refused to comment on reports that the Kerala State Road Transport Corporation managing director, Mr. James Joseph, was being eased out of office. He said the Transport Minister was quite capable of handling such issues efficiently. There was no reason to discuss the issue in the LDF committee, he said.

On the confusion about starting Open Schools in the State consequent on pre-degree delinking, he said the Front was confident that all such matters would be decided by the Government on the basis of an understanding reached earlier.

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Section  : Southern States
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