Thiruvananthapuram: The Kerala government on September 4 announced it won’t host any function that involves huge sums of money for a year and instead divert the amount for flood relief.
The cancelled events include the much-acclaimed International Film Festival of Kerala, held every December, besides state school youth festivals.
Officials say Kerala has suffered a damage of 300 billion rupees in the worst floods to hit the state in a century.
A government order said that no government department would host any festival for a year.
The funds earmarked for all such cancelled events would be diverted to the Chief Minister’s Distress Relief Fund (CMDRF).
Till September 3, the fund had received 10.36 billion rupees. Ministers from Kerala plan to visit 14 countries to raise money from public contributions.
(Business Standard)