T’puram: Nearly two years after the Mundakkai-Chooralmala landslides devastated parts of Wayanad, records accessed under the Right to Information (RTI) Act show that the state govt has directly spent only Rs 102.59 crore from its own funds for relief and rehabilitation.According to the response from the disaster management department, the entire Rs 102.59 crore was drawn from the state disaster response fund (SDRF). With estimates indicating that rebuilding Wayanad would require several thousand crores, criticism has already emerged that the state’s direct financial commitment remains disproportionately low compared to the scale of the disaster.The state govt has maintained that it has fully availed the Rs 529.50 crore interest-free loan sanctioned by Centre for Wayanad’s rehabilitation. However, there is still no clear, publicly available breakdown of how this amount has been utilised. Officials have not provided a detailed account clarifying whether the funds were directed towards infrastructure rebuilding, housing or other components of rehabilitation.Documents from the revenue department further show that donors from across the world had contributed Rs 773.98 crore to the chief minister’s distress relief fund (CMDRF). Of this, Rs 167.12 crore has been allocated to the Wayanad district collector. A significant portion of this allocation has gone towards land acquisition for a rehabilitation township. A total of Rs 43.56 crore was earmarked for acquiring 64.4 hectares in Elstone Estate in Vythiri taluk, Kalpetta, for constructing a township for survivors of Chooralmala landslides. This includes Rs 26.56 crore towards land acquisition and Rs 17 crore under the rehabilitation project component. Additionally, Rs 39.8 crore has been spent as mobilisation advance for the Wayanad Township project.Despite these allocations, there has been no meaningful progress in terms of liveability of the houses, with basic infrastructure such as power and water connections still not in place. Apart from the symbolic handover of keys for a small number of houses ahead of elections, the township project remains incomplete.In effect, despite substantial public donations and central assistance, many of those affected by the disaster have yet to return to stable living conditions. “Whenever questions are raised, the response is often deflected into political comparisons, including what the opposition did or did not deliver. That line of argument misses the core issue. Ensuring the welfare and rehabilitation of citizens affected by a disaster is a mandatory responsibility of the govt, not the opposition,” said a senior IAS officer on condition of anonymity.
