Kochi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday announced an interim relief of Rs 500 crore for flood-hit Kerala after a high-level meeting with state chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan and other officials at the Southern Naval Command in Kochi and said that rescuing those stranded was the top priority.
At the meeting to review the flood damage, Vijayan said the state has so far a staggering suffered a loss of Rs 25000 crore and sought an immediate relief of 2,000 crore.
Modi also announced an ex-gratia of Rs 2 lakh per person to the next of kin of the deceased and Rs 50,000 to those seriously injured from the Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund (PMNRF), a Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) statement said.