more-in Congress leader V.D. Satheesan, MLA, on Monday alleged that the stipulations for granting loan under the Resurgent Kerala Loan Scheme-2018 were impractical and in effect, served only to deny loans to the victims of flood. He said while the announcement was that a sum of ?10 lakh would be lent free of interest to each Kudumbashree neighbourhood group, it now turned out that loans already availed by the neighbourhood group would also be counted into it. “Each neighbourhood group has 20 members and most of these groups have already obtained linkage loans from banks at 4% interest. But the flood-hit would now have to cough up more as the interest charged from them would be 9%. Further, the moratorium declared on levying loan interests would not be applicable to the loans taken by Kudumbashree. A third anomaly is that regardless of the number of people taking a loan, all 20 members of a neighbourhood group will be responsible for repaying it. This is bound to lead to differences within the groups,” Mr. Satheesan, vice president of the State Pradesh Congress Committee, told the media here. He also alleged that despite their announcement of solidarity with the flood victims, banks were not forthcoming to grant loans to flood victims, while the government looked the other way. Mr. Satheesan also accused the KSEB of causing the flood by mismanaging dams and now swindling the flood-hit small entrepreneurs by charging ?27,000 each for replacing the damaged time-of-the-day meters. Mr. Satheesan also asked the KSEB and the government to make public all details pertaining to water inflow to the dams and spill between August 14 and 18. “What was the technical support that the board extended to the shutter operators? The public also have a right to know details of power generated during this period,” he said. Criticising the State government for ignoring weather warnings, he said the State Disaster Management Authority proved its incompetence during the Cyclone Ockhi and during the floods. “It should be disbanded and replaced with a competent and responsible mechanism down to the district-level. And, the government should urgently do flood mapping and drought mapping. An evacuation plan for calamities should also be in place at the earliest.” To a question on the Supreme Court’s verdict allowing compensation to former ISRO scientist Nambi Narayanan in the espionage case, Mr. Satheesan said it was delayed delivery of justice. Uppu thinnavar vellam kudikkatte (Those who consumed salt would now have to drink water),” he said.

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