Malayali NRI donates Rs.50 Crores to Kerala Victims

New Delhi, Aug 21: After getting some relief from rains after a week-long battering, rescue efforts were stepped up in Kerala as Army, Navy, Air Force, the Coast Guard, and disaster management agencies such as the NDRF rescued 43,000 people, as per official figures.

The Ministry of Home Affairs has declared Kerala floods of 'severe nature', and the Centre exempted basic customs duty and IGST on goods supplied for Kerala relief operations.

NRI billionaire and chairman of Abu Dhabi-headquartered VPS Healthcare Dr Shamsheer Vayalil will donate Rs 50 crore for the relief of flood victims in Kerala. The state has been suffering from abnormally high rains and and floods for almost a month now.

Keralites are pulling together all their resources to fight this natural calamity and we believe it is our duty to join Hence, I will donate Rs 50 crore to help the flood victims Vayalil said.

Vayalil is a leading player in the healthcare sector in the Middle East, his healthcare company VPS now has 22 hospitals and 125 medical centers across Middle East India and Europe.

This is the largest individual contribution so far. Earlier, UAE also decided to donate Rs 700 crore relief funds for the flood-hit state.

This is for housing, health care and the educational needs of the flood victims and this project will be my immediate priority. Elaborating on the project, he said that the project will be monitored by a committee of eminent personalities.

Apart from addressing the health care issues, the project will help families rebuild their houses. "Another priority area will be restoring the schools in the affected areas," he said.