The Centre has approved ₹529 crore as an interest-free special assistance loan for 16 rehabilitation projects in the landslides-affected Chooralmala and Mundakkai in the Wayanad district. However, Kerala must spend the entire amount before March 31 and submit a comprehensive utilisation certificate.

The Centre’s alleged apathy to the demand for a ₹2,000-crore rehabilitation package for Wayanad and its “unworkable” one-and-a-half month deadline to utilise the loan has come under sharp criticism from the ruling Left Democratic Front and the Opposition United Democratic Front.

Finance Minister K.N. Balagopal said the State had requested a capital expenditure loan from the Centre to reconstruct vital infrastructure, including roads, bridges, electrical substations, and a piped drinking water network in the local areas as a stopgap arrangement.

He said the Centre has granted Kerala 50 years to repay the loan. However, the Union Finance Ministry introduced a problematic rider to the credit. He stated that the Centre’s special assistance was “belated” and hinged on unrealistic and ill-thought spending constraints.

“Most Central special assistance loans come with comparable onerous conditions,” he added.

Mr. Balagopal said Kerala still hoped the Centre would sanction the ₹2,000-crore package and set off the special assistance loan against the grant. He noted that the Centre had written off special assistance loans against disaster rehabilitation bursaries made to other disaster-affected States.

Leader of the Opposition V.D. Satheesan asserted that the Centre had ridiculed Kerala by granting a loan to Wayanad rather than providing a comprehensive rehabilitation package. Mr. Satheesan remarked that, in retrospect, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to ground zero in Wayanad seemed to be nothing more than a television spectacle.

He agreed with Mr. Balagopal that the Centre’s insistence that the loan be spent before the end of the 2024-25 fiscal non-viable.

BJP hails it

In contrast, Bharatiya Janata Party State president K. Surendran welcomed the Centre’s gesture.

He blamed the State for delaying rehabilitation projects, including the proposed model township. Mr. Surendran said that by setting a one-and-a-half-month deadline for utilising the capital expenditure loan, the Centre had fast-tracked Wayanad’s economic and social reintegration.