Pallakad/Kochi, Apr 7 (PTI) Congress MLA Mathew Kuzhalnadan on Tuesday came out with serious allegations that the 2018 floods in Kerala was caused due to “corruption and greed” of the Left government which delayed opening of some dams in the state to benefit some private businesses.
The allegation was rejected by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, who said that expert findings clearly stated the floods were “not caused by human intervention, but were entirely due to natural factors”.
Kuzhalnadan, in support of his allegations, played a purported audio clip of state Electricity Minister K Krishnankutty who appeared to be blaming then Water Resources Minister Mathew T Thomas for the floods that happened during the tenure of the first Pinarayi Vijayan government.
According to the purported audio clip, Krishnankutty can be heard saying that shutters of the Thottappally Spillway in Alappuzha district were opened a month late in order to prevent washing away of the sand, at the bottom of the regulator, which a private company had been allowed to mine.
The minister could also be heard to say that water was allowed to be accumlated in another dam which was being managed by a private company for electricity generation and the shutters were opened only after it was overloaded, causing floods in its downstream.
Krishankutty denied having ever made such statements and said that anything was possible in the current times due to the presence of Artificial Intelligence (AI).
He was of the view that the audio clip was created using AI and said he will take legal action in the matter.
He also said that Indian Socialist Janata Dal leader Thomas will never do anything as alleged against him.
Both belong to the same political party and Thomas is contesting in the upcoming Assembly polls from Thiruvalla constituency.
Krishnankutty also said that an expert team from IIT, Chennai had carried out a study and come to the conclusion that the floods were caused due to extremely heavy rainfall.
Thomas too said that the IIT report found no wrongdoing.
He said that he does not believe Krishnankutty would make such remarks.
He said that no one will believe the allegations by Kuzhalnadan as he lacks credibility.
“There was no delay in opening of dam shutters,” Thomas contended. Both he and Krishnankutty were of the view that the allegations were politically motivated and made with an eye on the Assembly polls in Kerala on April 9.
“Why were such allegations not made in the Legislative Assembly when the issue was discussed?” Krishnankutty asked. PTI HMP KH
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