The Centre and Kerala crossed swords on Wednesday over advance weather warnings for the State and the disaster response in the wake of the catastrophic landslide that claimed over 200 lives and levelled three villages in Vythithiri taluk of Wayanad district a day earlier.
In Parliament, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said the Kerala government did not gauge the severity of the situation accurately despite the Centre despatching nine National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) teams to the State on July 23. “Had those blaming the [Central] government read the warnings, the situation would have been different,” he said.
In Kerala, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan took issue with Mr. Shah’s statement, asserting that the Centre dispatched the NDRF teams at the State government’s behest, given the intensifying monsoon, and not on its own volition. The State government moved an NDRF unit to Wayanad well in advance, he said.
Answering a Calling Attention Motion in Rajya Sabha, Mr. Shah said the Centre issued the first warning on July 23 and repeated it on the next three days. Citing the examples of Odisha and Gujarat where “zero-casualty disaster management” was done, he asked why the Kerala government did not evacuate people from the vulnerable areas.
“There were accusations, whether in the absence of information or what I do not know, but I need to specify here through the House to the entire nation. They kept saying early warning, early warning… I would like to specify that on July 23, the Kerala government was given an early warning by the Central government,” the Home Minister said.
“On July 26, it [Kerala] was informed that there will be heavy rainfall of more than 20 centimetres, there is a possibility of a landslide, there could be a rush of mud and people could even die by getting buried beneath it,” he continued, and proceeded to question the Kerala government. “A lot of questions are being asked of us. May I ask what the Kerala government did? Were unauthorised people living there or not? Why were they not evacuated?”
Replying to a Calling Attention Motion in the Lok Sabha moved by Congress MP K.C. Venugopal, Mr. Shah assured the House that the Narendra Modi government was standing like a “rock” with the Kerala government and people of the State in this moment of tragedy. He also promised all help from the Central government.
Three CPI(M) MPs in Rajya Sabha from Kerala -- John Brittas, A.A. Rahim and V. Sivadasan -- later approached Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar requesting him to direct Mr. Shah to clarify his statement. Separately, Mr. Sivadasan moved a privilege notice with the Rajya Sabha Secretary-General alleging that Mr. Shah has misled the Upper House and action must be initiated against him for breach of privilege.
Addressing a press conference in Thiruvananthapuram, Mr. Vijayan suggested that the forecasts by the India Meteorological Department (IMD), Geological Survey of India (GSI) and Central Water Commission were wide off the mark. “None of the agencies had issued a red alert for Wayanad ahead of the July 30 landslides,” he said.
The Chief Minister said the IMD had given an orange alert for Wayanad. “The rainfall far exceeded the initial warning. The area had never been on red alert before the disaster. However, after the incident, the agencies issued a red alert at 6 a.m. [on July 30] after the disaster struck,” he said.
He said the GSI issued a green alert for July 30 and 31, indicating minor landslips or rock bursts. “However, by that time, heavy rain had already occurred, leading to the landslides,” the CM said. “The Union Minister has presented information in Parliament that is inconsistent with facts.”
Mr. Vijayan, however, reiterated that now was not the time for a blame game or political bickering. “The need of the hour is to expedite search, rescue, and rehabilitation operations to mitigate the suffering of the disaster-struck population,” he said.
