Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has sought a special financial package from the Central government as flood relief assistance.
Vijayan on Sunday handed over a memorandum to Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh seeking an immediate assistance package of Rs 1,220 crore. Vijayan said the losses have been pegged at Rs 8,316 crore. Kerala was facing the biggest floods since 1924.
A Central delegation should be sent again to assess the damages, Vijayan said in the memorandum.
Meanwhile, Singh said the Centre had allocated an immediate relief package of Rs 100 crore to Kerala. More aid will be allocated, Singh promised.
On Sunday, Singh made an aerial survey of two rain-ravaged districts of Kerala and said the situation in the state was "very serious".
Singh assured the Kerala government of all help from the Centre to meet the challenges posed by the unprecedented floods.
Singh was addressing people at a relief camp at Elanthikkara in Paravur taluk in Ernakulam. He conducted an aerial survey of Idukki and Ernakulam districts.
According to the latest official figures, more than 60,000 people—including women, toddlers and senior citizens—have been lodged in various relief camps across 14 districts of Kerala following the unprecedented monsoon rains that triggered floods and landslips in several places.
Vijayan had on Saturday announced Rs 10 lakh as compensation to those who lost their houses and land in the rain, and Rs 4 lakh to those who lost a member of their family. The toll in the monsoon fury in Kerala since August 8 has climbed to 37.
Of the 774 people killed in floods and other rain-related reasons across the country in this monsoon season, Kerala has seen the most casualties—187 deaths—according to figures released by the home ministry's National Emergency Response Centre (NERC) on Sunday.
(With inputs from agencies)