KOCHI: Citing the Shirur incident which led to significant environmental disasters and loss of lives, the amicus curiae appointed by the Kerala High Court has recommended that the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) be directed to implement a disaster management plan and take effective steps to prevent frequent landslides during the construction of national highways in the state.
The NHAI oversees the construction of a 600-km stretch of national highway from Kasaragod to Thiruvananthapuram. The report highlights that in the Shirur area, hills were cut horizontally without any support from retaining walls, causing massive landslides. Similar methods of hill cutting have been observed in Kerala as well.
The court appointed senior advocate Ranjith Thampan as amicus curiae to assist the court in a suo motu case registered for the prevention and management of a national disaster in Kerala in the wake of the Wayanad landslide.
The report filed in Kerala High Court pointed out that the construction particulars vary from hilly areas to plains and marshy lands. It is doubtful whether the NHAI has put in place any disaster management plans. Hence, there is a need for disaster preventive measures in the construction of national highways.
The amicus curiae further suggested that a directive should be given to Union and state governments to consider the possibility of providing ex-gratia relief to the affected persons as well as the families of the deceased from the Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund (PMNRF) and Chief Minister’s Distress Relief Fund (CMDRF).
As per the guidelines in this regard, an amount that can be paid for fully damaged houses is only `1,30,000 per house. Around 500 houses which have moderately decent facilities were fully damaged or destroyed during the landslide. The state government decided to give `4 lakh for reconstruction of houses that are fully damaged. Apart from this, `2,70,000 is being paid from the CMDRF. However, no amount is being paid further.
The report also pointed out that the disaster management department had informed the Union government that there are only very few automated rain gauges in the state and the data regarding the rainfall is obtained in 28 stations in the state. The temperature observations are provided only by seven observatories. This is highly inadequate and is in contravention of the responsibilities of the Nodal Department tasked with weather observation and early warning system.Hence, the court may direct to set up and maintain automated weather stations at all sites and provide concurrent weather observations in the state, stated the report.
Key findings
Amicus curiae report points out that construction particulars vary from hilly areas to plains and marshy lands
Similar methods of hill-cutting technique used in Shirur have been observed in Kerala as well