Wayanad (Kerala) | Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi has urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to waive the loans of the Chooralmala-Mundakkai landslide survivors, party sources said on Tuesday.
In a statement, the party said that Priyanka has again written to the PM informing him about the plight of the landslide survivors who have lost their homes and livelihoods.
She said that the assets of farmers, small and medium enterprises and other service providers were damaged or completely destroyed in the natural disaster and a large part of the agricultural land became uncultivable.
The Congress MP said that earlier the National Disaster Management Authority could have instructed banks to waive the loans in accordance with the provisions of section 13 of the NDMA Act, 2005.
"However, the central government amended the Disaster Management Act in March 2025 to remove that provision," she said and claimed that the amendment "mocked" the pain and suffering of the disaster victims.
She claimed that the Kerala High Court had in June said that despite the repeal of section 13 of NDMA, the central government has powers under the Constitution to issue instructions to waive the loans.
The Congress leader further said that according to the documents provided by the Wayanad district administration, the victims and survivors of the Chooralmala-Mundakai disaster have an outstanding amount of Rs 30.78 crore as of February 2025.
In her letter, Priyanka pointed out that the Kerala Bank has completely written off their outstanding loans of Rs 4.98 crore and urged the PM to humanely consider the "legitimate and reasonable" demands of the disaster survivors, the party said in the statement.
