By P. Sreekumaran
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The V. D. Satheesan-led United Democratic Front(UDF) Government cannot escape the responsibility for the Wayanad debris slip tragedy which has so far claimed seven lives.
The Government, ever since it assumed power, has sought to blame it all on the previous Left Democratic Front(LDF) Government. The UDF Government said that the LDF Government’s ‘unseemly’ hurry to start work on the Wayanad tunnel project was the cause of the accident at Kalladi in Wayanad.
The real reason for the man-made tragedy was the ‘grave administrative negligence’ of the present government, according to Leader of the Opposition (LoP) Pinarayi Vijayan, who visited the accident site. He has accused the government and the disaster management authority of failing to respond to the warnings of extreme weather. Pinarayi said although Wayanad experienced heavy rainfall two days before the tragedy struck, the District disaster Management Authority failed to issue a timely red alert.
The former chief minister, who visited the relief camps, pledged full support for the relief operations. But he voiced grave concern at the lack of basic amenities, including clothing, in relief camps, and urged the Government to address the shortages immediately. Pinarayi also defended the environmental clearance obtained for the nearly Rs 21,000 crore twin tube-tunnel project, which would ease the traffic bottlenecks and congestion which vehicles going to Wayanad from Kozhikode face at present. The clearances, he asserted, had been secured strictly through proper and legitimate institutional channels.
The Chief Minister, however, continues to blame the Pinarayi Government on the issue. He also tried to shift the blame on to the contractor of the project. Satheesan accused the contractor of ignoring the directions to remove the excavated soil and debris stacked near the construction site. The serious lapse contributed in a big way to the tragedy. However, the PWD secretary who visited the site took a contradictory stand and said there was no need to remove the debris! This shows the criminal negligence on the part of the Government to take timely measures to avert the tragedy.
The tragedy was waiting to happen as several agencies had warned that the Anakkampoyil-Kalladi-Meppadi twin-tube road tunnel project site was highly vulnerable to landslides. A joint site inspection and geological and geo-technical assessment of the project last month had also cautioned about the “localized or large-scale slope failure”.
The joint inspection team, which had representatives of the Geological Survey of India, TUMAS India Private Limited, the agency involved in the project, and Dilip Buildcon Limited, the contracting firm, had reported that “continuous and intense rainfall has resulted in progressive saturation of the overburdened mass, leading to the development of multiple instability signatures, including widening tension cracks on both lined and unlined berms, localized earth slumps, rill erosion, cavity formation, and the discharge of turbid(muddy) seepage water.”
The area had recorded landslides in the past with high fatalities and experienced an extremely severe landslide disaster with a very high death toll, loss of properties and adverse land modifications in the recent past. Therefore, it was necessary that all the anticipated impacts due to various activities envisaged under the project during the construction and operation phases have to be evaluated with scientific inputs.
The tragedy has also stressed the urgent need to have a second look at having major infrastructure projects in ecologically vulnerable regions in the wake of the debris slip caused by torrential rains at the tunnel construction site. Experts have pointed out that the tunnel under construction cuts through the most fragile terrain in terms of the destructive landslides near the Chooralmala and Mudakkai regions that occurred between 2019 and 2024.
Tunnelling, experts have opined, disrupts hill slopes by altering the natural stress distribution, weakening the rock mass. Tunnelling can also generate new fractures besides triggering landslides during intense rainfall. Experts have also demanded an immediate halt to the project. They want the environmental clearance given by the State Environmental Impact Assessment Authority (SEIAA) to be cancelled and a study of the comprehensive environmental and social impact of the tunnel project made.
In a related development, the Chengalayi Panchayat in Kannur has launched “Sajjam”, a volunteer disaster response force, drawing lessons from the 2018 and 2019 floods and the devastating Wayanad landslides. The move aims to ensure rapid rescue operations, reduce casualties, and strengthen community preparedness. It may be mentioned that the 2018 and 2019 floods had forced the evacuation of nearly 1,500 families in the panchayat. The programme will equip 90% of residents with life-saving skills, disaster response knowledge and accident prevention awareness through a phased campaign.
Meanwhile, the Kerala High Court has asked the State Government to disburse compensation to the Wayanad victims and bear the expenses of the injured under treatment. Any compensation announced by the State should be paid by July 17, the court ordered. It also directed the Government to hand over the bodies of the deceased to their families at the earliest. (IPA Service)
