KOZHIKODE: Angered by the delay in rescuing Arjun Mooladikuzhiyil, who went missing in the landslide at Uttara Kannada on July 16, Keralites are flooding social media posts by Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah with comments against his government’s ‘inefficiency’ in the search operations.
Keralites posted ‘SaveArjun’ and ‘ShameKarnatakaGovernment’ beneath the Facebook posts of Siddaramaiah where he mentioned visiting to the site, and posted photos of the visit. Angry reactions in the comments blamed the “inefficiency” of the Karnataka government to locate the truck driven by Arjun even after six days of search.
One post on X (formerly Twitter) tagged Elon Musk seeking his intervention. “Your involvement in highlighting and aiding crises has made a difference before. Hoping you can help bring attention and action to this urgent situation,” the post said.
People in Kannadikkal area under the aegis of Janakeeya Koottayma took out a march on Saturday night and Sunday morning against the delay in rescue operations. However, Asif Azeez, Arjun’s neighbour, said the posts on Siddaramaiah’s FB posts were not initiated by the Koottayma.
“But we share the concerns expressed in the comments,” he said. Asif said around 200 people gathered at Kannadikkal at 8.30pm on Saturday upon learning that the search was temporarily halted at night. The protest was organised by a WhatsApp group.
Meanwhile, Siddaramaiah, in an FB post, denied allegations of delay in search operations, and said strong action will be taken if it is found that unscientific construction of the road led to the mishap. He also said there will be no search operations at night. After a review meeting, he said that the process of giving compensation to the victims will be expedited.