Many relief camps shut in Kerala

Thiruvananthapuram : The number of relief camps set up following the terrible floods in Kerala has come down from 3,314 to 2,774 and they now house 1 million people, down from the earlier 1.2 million, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said on Thursday.

A total of 60,591 houses and 37,676 wells which were flooded or submerged were thoroughly cleaned during the day, Vijayan told the media here.

The Chief Minister also reported that 21.6 lakh of the 26 lakh electrical connections that had snapped during the worst flooding in nearly a century had started working again.

And so were 49 of the 50 power sub-stations in the worst affected areas, he said.

Vijayan said that banks had started giving away Rs 1 lakh loan to each family which had borne the brunt of the flood fury.

And he made it clear that houses would not be allowed to come up again in "fragile areas" so as to remain in tune with nature.