THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala has demanded a judicial probe into the alleged unscientific opening of dams that resulted in the floods. Addressing the Assembly’s special session on Thursday, Chennithala said the calamity was ‘man-made’ and the ‘culprit’, the state government, was now playing the role of a saviour.
The rescue and rehabilitation of victims were largely done by thousands of good-hearted citizens who rose to the occasion and NGOs, he said.Chennithala reiterated his stand the full handover of rescue operations to the Army could have minimised fatalities. He flayed the government for not putting in a request with the Central Water Commission for flood forecast. 24 Indian states have CWC’s flood forecasting stations.
Chennithala said the government machinery was a failure in rescuing the flood victims. “Minister Raveendranath who was in charge of Ernakulam was nowhere in the scene and had to be replaced by his colleague A C Moideen. Another Minister, Raju, who was in charge of Kottayam, went on a foreign tour,” he said.
Chennithala said no prior warning was given to the people ahead of the opening of dams, except in the case of Idukki. In all other places, KSEB officials issued alerts in record but didn’t bother to inform people.
“The incident at Ranni in which three warning announcement vehicles were washed away in the waters is an example for the ill-preparedness,” he said. Chennithala said the Irrigation Department was a total failure. The midnight opening of some dams like the Banasura Sagar dam inundated large swathes of land. The Thanneermukkom bund and Thottappally spillway were not opened in time to avoid the mass flooding of Kuttanad.
Chennithala demanded a separate account for the flood mitigation funds received by the government. This was imperative considering the poor spending of Ockhi relief funds accounted for in the CMDRF.
A tribunal should be formed for the timely disbursal of compensation. Agriculture loans of flood victims up to `5 lakh should be written off. Assistance from international agencies like IMF, World Bank and ADB should be sought. In a veiled reference to the LDF protests against ADB funds in 2003, he said: “We will neither oppose such assistance nor resort to protests with used motor oil.”Chennithala extended all possible help to the government in building a New Kerala.