Bangalore: The Kerala government has decided to tap the state's diaspora living across the world for funds to rebuild the flood-devastated state.
A cabinet meeting held on Thursday night took the decision to send ministers and top officials to all the countries where Malayalis live in large numbers, chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan told reporters on Friday.
"Our expatriates are already helping a lot. But the cabinet decided to make them partners in the rebuilding process by raising contributions from them," the CPM politburo member said.
Although the preliminary assessment has put the loss at Rs 20,000 crore, experts estimate that close to Rs 50,000 crore would be required since roads, bridges and power lines have to be rebuilt besides thousands of homes.
While the Centre has so far given Rs 600 crore, individual donations to the Chief Minister's Disaster Relief Fund reached Rs 1,036 crore on Friday morning, according to Vijayan.
The state CPM alone has mobilised Rs 26.43 crore, part of the relief fund, from party members and sympathisers. The chief minister had recently given a call to all Malayalis to contribute a month's salary towards flood relief.
"Since we need a lot more money for the reconstruction of infrastructure and to compensate those who lost everything, we thought approaching our own people would be a good idea," Vijayan said.
State ministers will visit the Gulf states, Singapore, Malaysia, Australia, New Zealand, Germany, the US and Canada, among other countries.
Irudaya Rajan, a professor at the Centre for Development Studies in Thiruvananthapuram, told The Telegraph that the Kerala diaspora alone would be able to fund the reconstruction.
"By my estimate, overseas Malayalis sent Rs 75,000 crore in foreign remittances last year alone. A portion of that would help the state," Rajan said.
He said 2.5 million Malayalis live in the Gulf, with at least another two million in Europe, the Americas, the Far East and the Pacific.
Rajan wanted all political parties on the same page since Malayalis living abroad also maintain their political identity. "The idea will certainly click if all parties speak in one voice on rebuilding the state," he said.
The chief minister said senior ministers and top bureaucrats would also travel to various cities of India where Malayalis live in large numbers. "We will seek the help of Malayali associations in each of these cities to raise funds," Vijayan said.
A statewide fund-raising drive will be held between September 13 and 15 in which specially assigned ministers would meet wealthy individuals, industrialists and businessmen to raise funds.
"School children have been a great inspiration for all of us with their keenness to contribute as much as they can. Many of them met me in my office to donate their entire piggy banks. So we decided to organise a one-day collection drive in all educational institutions in Kerala on September 11," Vijayan said.
The state government has requested commercial banks to offer loans to those who suffered loss in the devastation.
Since thousands of people have lost all their white goods such as televisions, refrigerators, washing machines and kitchen appliances, the state government has made provisions to lend money through commercial banks.
"Each family can borrow up to Rs 1 lakh to buy white goods. The state will pay the interest," Vijayan said.
The government has appointed KPMG as consultant partner after the firm offered its services for free to help in the reconstruction process.
The death toll in the worst deluge in Kerala in a century has risen to 483 with 14 people still missing and 120 being treated at various hospitals.
The floods have displaced 14.5 lakh people and destroyed standing crops on 57,000 hectares.
The leader of the Opposition, Ramesh Chennithala of the Congress, on Friday submitted a memorandum to the governor seeking better management of the post-flood situation.
Among the demands he raised with the governor was a separate head for the money flowing into the Chief Minister's Disaster Relief Fund and a special tribunal to handle all compensation payouts.
