Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan announced that efforts to rehabilitate survivors of the recent landslides in Wayanad district are advancing. As part of these measures, banks will refund EMIs deducted from the victims' accounts since July 30 and will also restructure their existing loans.
Vijayan also mentioned that banks will propose to their boards the possibility of fully waiving loans for those affected by the landslides. These measures were discussed and decided during a State Level Bankers' Committee (SLBC) meeting held on Monday, as reported by the Chief Minister at a press conference.
During the meeting, it was decided that EMIs collected after July 30 from people in the disaster areas would be refunded to their respective bank accounts. This decision aims to provide financial relief to those who continued to make repayments despite the calamity.
In the meeting, it was also decided to restructure all existing loans taken for agricultural and non-agricultural purposes as soon as possible, provide unsecured consumption loans of up to Rs 25,000 for immediate relief that can be repaid in 30 months and suspend all the recovery procedures in the disaster-hit areas for the time being, the CM said.
Meanwhile, 119 people remain missing, and DNA samples from 91 of their relatives have been collected and sent for testing. The major landslides that struck the Mundakkai and Chooralmala regions of Wayanad on July 30 caused extensive destruction, resulting in over 300 fatalities and numerous injuries.