Kerala govt offers Rs 50,000 aid to Kottayam building collapse victim's family

Kerala Minister KN Vasavan blamed UDF government for ignoring a 2013 PWD report on the unsafe condition of the Kottayam medical college building before its collapse.

Thiruvananthapuram: Minister for Ports and Cooperation and Minister for Devaswoms from the Left Democratic Front (LDF), V.N. Vasavan called the Kottayam Medical College building collapse an 'unfortunate' incident and informed that an amount of Rs 50,000 will be given to the family of the deceased.

He said, “CM Pinarayi Vijayan visited the spot yesterday itself. Rs 50,000 will be given as immediate help to the family. The State Cabinet will discuss and decide on financial help to the family. Kottayam Medical College is one of the best-performing hospitals in India. The incident is unfortunate.” He further clarified that there was no lapse from the government side and added, "Did not ask to stop rescue operation, it was for making way to let the Hitachi excavator enter. Rescue was only possible with the help of a machine."

"The health minister said yesterday that nobody was stuck there because the hospital superintendent told the minister that the building was not in use," he further said.

Vasavan blames Congress

Shifting the blame on the previous government of the United Democratic Front (UDF), he said, “In 2013, the PWD (Public Works Department) submitted a report about the condition of the building. Then the UDF government did not act on it.” Vasvan praised his party and also stated that if the UDF government had acted promptly, this incident would have been avoided. He also informed that the LDF government was using funds from the Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board (KIIFB) for the new building construction.

"After the LDF government came into power in 2016, a new building was completed using funds from KIIFB. If the then UDF government had acted on time, the building construction could have been completed earlier", he added. A building block of the Government Medical College Hospital in Kerala's Kottayam collapsed on Thursday. In the collapse, one person died and several were injured.