New Delhi: The central government had alerted Kerala last week about the possibility of heavy rain resulting in landslides in Wayanad, Union Home Minister Amit Shah told Rajya Sabha Wednesday.
Shah told the House that nine battalions of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) had been sent to the state where rescuers were still working through slush, looking for survivors in the affected hills, a day after more than 160 people were killed in a series of landslides triggered by heavy downpour.
Shah informed the Upper House that the Kerala government was informed about the possible disaster on 23 July, followed by more warnings over the next two days.
“On 26 July, the Union government alerted the state government of the possibility of more than 20 cm rainfall, landslides and people’s deaths under debris. I did not want to make this point here but (am) answering only because of questions against the Union government’s early warning system,” Shah told the Rajya Sabha.
He was responding to the calling-attention motion moved by CPI(M) MP Dr John Brittas, who wanted the Wayanad landslides to be declared a national disaster. Brittas also highlighted allegations by party colleague A.A. Rahim that a modern Doppler radar had been denied to Kerala.
“State governments have used this early warning system to reduce casualty due to disaster to zero. We had shared an early warning with the previous Odisha government of Navin babu (Patnaik) a week before and there was only one casualty and that, too, by mistake. We had shared a warning with Gujarat and not even an animal died in the cyclone,” Shah said.
“The Government of India has spent Rs 2,000 crore since 2014 on an early warning system and it is shared with states a week before which is also available on the website for all MPs to take a look,” he added.
Shah also asked why people were not moved from areas predicted to be affected by heavy rainfall and landslides in Kerala. “People were not shifted before the tragedy… only afterwards,” Shah responded as opposition MPs attempted to counter him.
He responded to the argument made by opposition MPs that state governments did not have the authority to release funds for disaster management, saying that states have only to follow guidelines on disbursal of payment to release 100 percent of funds.
“There have to be checks and balances on the expenditure of disaster funds for disasters only. If states follow the guidelines of the Union government, they can spend 100 percent. Moreover, 10 percent of the amount can be spent by the state under any expenditure head,” Shah told Parliament.
He also said that three more battalions of the NDRF had been despatched to Kerala Tuesday and averred that more losses could have been avoided had the Kerala government changed its rigid stance.
Taking the government’s response forward, Minister of State (Home) Nityanand Rai told the House that Kerala was allotted Rs 145 crore from the state disaster response funds Wednesday.
“Right after tragedy struck, approximately 1,200 personnel from NDRF, Air Force, Army, Navy, and Indian Coast Guard were deployed for the search and rescue operation. Four teams, four columns of Army, one team of Navy, three units of Coast Guard and state’s fire department have also been deployed,” Rai said.
(Edited by Tikli Basu)
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