Advance warnings issued to Kerala govt at least a week ahead: Shah in LS

Read below: Kerala CM refutes Amit Shah’s claim that Centre gave advance calamity warning to state

NEW DELHI — Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday asserted that advance warnings on heavy rainfall in Kerala were issued to the state government at least a week ahead of the deadly landslides in Wayanad that have left a trail of death and destruction.

Replying to a discussion on the Calling Attention Motion in the Lok Sabha, he said the Centre had sent eight teams of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) on July 23 to assist the Kerala government in any eventuality of a disaster.

“When the landslides struck Wayanad, the NDRF teams got the green signal from the collector and relief operations were launched immediately,” the Home Minister said.

He said all verticals involved in relief and rescue operations have been deployed, including the Army, Air Force and even a small unit CISF which was posted in the region.

Also read: Wayanad landslides: Army recovers 70 bodies, rescues 1,000 people

“I would like to tell the people of Kerala and Wayanad through this House that the government of India will provide every possible help and every possible effort for rescue, relief and rehabilitation,” Shah said.

“This is the time to stand like a rock with Wayanad and the Modi government is committed to this,” he asserted.

Shah said about six years ago, experts from IIT-Delhi had suggested relocating people from the landslide-affected areas, but their advice was not heeded to.

He said since the Narendra Modi government came to power in 2014, emphasis has been placed on advance preparation, in addition to rescue work, to deal with possible disasters to prevent loss of lives.

“On July 18, it was forecast that Kerala’s western coast would experience above-normal rainfall. On July 25, it was forecast that there would be heavy rain. On July 23 itself, eight teams of the NDRF were sent to the region,” Shah said.

Kerala CM refutes Amit Shah’s claim that Centre gave advance calamity warning to state

Thiruvananthapuram — Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Wednesday refuted Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s claim that the state government was warned as early as July 23 regarding a possible natural calamity in Wayanad due to heavy rains.

Vijayan said that the India Meteorological Department (IMD) had only issued an orange alert in the district ahead of the landslides. However, the district received over 500 millimeters of rainfall, which was extremely higher than what was predicted by the IMD.

“A red alert was issued for the district only after the landslides hit there on Tuesday morning,” Vijayan said at a press conference here.

The CM also said that this was not the time for “blame game” and that he was not taking Shah’s remarks in an adversarial manner.

A red alert indicates heavy to extremely heavy rain of over 20 cm in 24 hours, while an orange alert means very heavy rain (6 cm to 20 cm).

Earlier in the day, Shah, in the Rajya Sabha, claimed that the Kerala government did not heed to the early warning and also did not get alerted even by the arrival of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) battalions in the state.

Shah said an early warning was sent to the state seven days ahead of the July 30 landslide. Another warning was given on July 24 also.

Had the Kerala government got itself alerted and acted as soon as NDRF teams landed there, losses could have been minimised, the Home Minister claimed.