Dileep V Kumar By

Express News Service

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Close on the heels of the Cabinet decision to provide additional assistance to the flood victims, the Disaster Management Department is set to roll out the ‘Prathyudhanam’ project.

The project that will cover a total of 7,300 beneficiaries in the eight flood-affected districts of the state intends to provide financial assistance of Rs 25,000 to each beneficiary.

The assistance will be provided from the United Nations Development Programme and Chief Minister’s Distress Relief Fund.

“The project is for eight flood-affected districts - Pathanamthitta, Alappuzha, Kottayam, Idukki, Ernakulam, Thrissur, Palakkad and Wayanad. The Social Justice Department officer of these districts will have to prepare a beneficiary list from the villages declared as flood-affected ones,” said an officer of the DMD.

As per the decision, the beneficiaries will be of four categories - cancer patients, dialysis patients, mentally challenged and bedridden persons and families headed by widows with minor children. According to the officer, the beneficiary list prepared by the officer will be scrutinised by the District Disaster Management Authority and after that, a final list will be handed over to the State Disaster Management Authority. It will be from there that the financial assistance will be credited to the beneficiary’s bank account.

The total beneficiaries of the project have been stipulated as 7,300.

District-wise list of beneficiaries includes Pathanamthitta (1,100), Alappuzha (800), Kottayam (800), Idukki (1,100), Ernakulam (800), Thrissur (800), Palakkad (800) and Wayanad (1,100).

“The total outlay of the project is Rs 18.25 crore. Of this, Rs 8.25 crore will come from UNDP and Rs 10 crore from CMDRF. The final beneficiary list should reach the SDMA by July 31,” said the officer.

Among the flood-affected districts, Palakkad has the highest number of Scheduled Caste victims. It is learnt that the project will be implemented jointly by the Disaster Management, Finance and Revenue Departments.