Betrayal: Priyanka slams Centre on no loan waiver for Wayanad landslides

New Delhi | With the Centre telling the Kerala High Court that the loans of people affected by the landslides in Wayanad last year would not be waived, Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Thursday said this is a "betrayal" and her party strongly condemns this "apathy".

The Union government has told the Kerala High Court that the loans of people affected by the landslides in Wayanad in July last year would not be waived. Instead, they will be rescheduled or restructured in accordance with the RBI's Master Directions on Natural Calamities.

The Centre made this submission in an affidavit filed in response to the high court's query on whether the loans availed by the affected individuals could be waived.

Congress general secretary and Wayanad MP Vadra said, "We strongly condemn this apathy and stand shoulder to shoulder with our brothers and sisters in Wayanad." "Wayanad landslide victims have lost everything - homes, land, livelihoods. Yet, the government refuses to offer even a loan waiver. Instead, they get mere loan rescheduling and restructuring," she said.

"This is not relief. This is a betrayal. We strongly condemn this apathy and stand shoulder to shoulder with our brothers and sisters in Wayanad.Their pain will not be ignored - we will raise their voices at every platform until justice is served," Gandhi said in a post on X.

In the affidavit, the Union Finance Ministry stated that a special meeting of the State Level Bankers' Committee (SLBC) Kerala was held on August 19 last year.

The meeting, which was also attended by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, decided to extend the applicable relief measures in line with the RBI's Master Directions on Natural Calamities.

According to the RBI's master directions, in the event of a natural calamity, the financial relief measures to be adopted include the restructuring or rescheduling of existing loans which would entail a one-year moratorium and the provision of fresh loans.

The Centre had earlier informed a bench of Justices A K Jayasankaran Nambiar and Easwaran S that the proposed measures were limited to a moratorium and restructuring of loans availed by the landslide victims.

This submission was made during the hearing of a PIL initiated by the court on its own in the wake of the Wayanad landslides, aimed at improving disaster prevention and management in Kerala.

A major landslide struck the Mundakkai and Chooralmala regions on July 30 last year, almost decimating both areas.

The disaster left hundreds injured, claimed over 200 lives, and 32 persons remain missing.