Restore Section 13 on loan waivers in Disaster Management Act, CM writes to PM

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Thursday wrote a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking his intervention to restore Section 13 of the Disaster Management Act related to relief in loan repayment for victims of disaster.

Mr. Vijayan pointed out in the letter that the removal of this Section, which was included in the law with purely humanitarian considerations, will further distress the victims of natural disasters.

The Chief Minister wrote to the Prime Minister in the context of the Union Government informing the Kerala High Court that the law does not allow the loan waiver of the victims of the Mundakkai-Chooralmala landslides in Wayanad district, citing the amendment made in March 2025 to the Disaster Management Act.

Section 13, which the Union government omitted as part of an amendment, reads — “The National Authority may, in cases of disasters of severe magnitude, recommend relief in repayment of loans or for grant of fresh loans to the persons affected by disaster on such concessional terms as may be appropriate.”

“The above Section enables providing much needed financial relief to victims of disasters, who face unprecedented crisis and will have to rebuild their lives after incurring heavy losses. The said provision in the Disaster Management Act was included with a humanitarian intent and deleting the same amounts to putting the victims of natural disasters to added hardship,” wrote Mr. Vijayan.

The CM’s office said in a press release that Kerala had submitted its first memorandum to the Union government on August 17, 2024, immediately after the disaster.

In addition to the memorandum, a Post-Disaster Needs Assessment was conducted and a detailed report was submitted to the Union Government on November 13, 2024.

On both these occasions, Section 13 of the Disaster Management Act was in force. However, it was only much later, March 29, 2025, that the Union Government issued a gazette notification amending the Act by deleting this Section.

This amendment does not have retrospective effect. Yet the Union government is taking the position that since the Act has been amended, it cannot provide assistance anymore, said the release.

Published - June 12, 2025 07:12 pm IST