Thiruvananthapuram Sep 4 (IANS) The Kerala government announced on Tuesday 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 Rs 30 000 crore 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 Monday the fund had received Rs 1 036 crore. Kerala Ministers are soon leaving to 14 countries to raise money from public contributions.

--IANS sg/mr