New Delhi, April 19: The Kerala government today officially asked the Centre to declare the Puttingal temple firecracker explosion a "national calamity" and asked for Rs 117.35 crore.
Billing the tragedy as a calamity of rare severity, the detailed 23-page memorandum, which included satellite images of the affected area, cited the 10th Finance Commission report to make a case for additional help from the Centre.
The 10th Finance Commission report - submitted in the mid-1990s - had taken the view that "if a calamity of rare severity occurs", it should be treated as a national calamity requiring additional assistance from the Centre beyond what is envisaged under the Calamity Relief Fund scheme.
According to the Kerala government, the temple tragedy caused the largest number of casualties in the state in a single disaster after the 2004 tsunami. A total of 107 people were killed and 1,197 injured. Of the injured, 411 are still in hospital and some are in critical condition.
"The affected community requires prolonged medical treatment and psycho-social care," additional chief secretary (revenue & disaster management) and state relief commissioner Vishwas Mehta said in the memorandum. Permanent and partial disability is likely in a large number of cases, the memorandum added.
Mehta submitted the memorandum to the additional secretary (disaster management) in the home ministry, B.K. Prasad, and plans to also meet the member secretary in the National Disaster Management Authority, R.K. Jain.
Submitting a break-up for the financial aid required, the state has estimated hospitalisation costs at Rs 3.20 crore, and expenditure that will be incurred for reconstruction and repair of the 1,993 damaged houses at around Rs 40.6 crore. Then there is crop damage of around Rs 1.58 crore and costs involved in clearing the debris, including toxic waste from the site of the explosion, which have been put at Rs 1.33 crore. The compensation already announced for the victims - Rs 10 lakh to the families of the dead, Rs 2 lakh to the severely injured and Rs 50,000 to those with minor injuries - has been factored in along with the sum to be paid to visitors who lost their belongings. Finally, there are the search and rescue costs.
The state has also urged the Centre to waive the expenses incurred by the defence forces and other central agencies in the rescue and relief operations. Built into the state's demand is a long-term rehabilitation plan, including a burn care centre in the Kollam district hospital and decontamination of soil and water of the area affected by the explosion.
