The Indian government will most likely not accept any foreign financial aid for flood relief operations in Kerala.
According to official sources, although India is extremely grateful for the financial aid offers, the Centre has decided to depend solely on domestic efforts to deal with the calamity, reports The Times of India.
The United Arab Emirates on Tuesday offered a financial assistance of $100 million or Rs 700 crore for relief operations in the flood-hit state. Out of the three million Indians who live and work in the UAE, nearly 80 percent of the residents hail from Kerala.
The government of Maldives was also keen to donate USD 50,000 or Rs 35 lakh for the relief work but sources said that India is unlikely to accept the financial aid.
Meanwhile, the state government of Kerala has sought Rs 2,600 crore special package from the Centre. Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had earlier said the state had suffered damages of about Rs 20,000 crore.
It is also being speculated that the United Nations wants to provide financial aid to the state. However, India is most likely to turn down the offer as it has not been taking foreign aid money since 2004.
India had earlier refused financial aid from Russia, Japan and the US for the Uttarakhand floods in 2013 and the Kashmir floods of 2014.
The rescue operations in Kerala is soon coming to an end but the state will be left with the herculean task of rebuilding the infrastructure that had been destroyed due to the floods, The floods had claimed around 400 lives and rendered 14 lakh people homeless.
