THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A day after a major landslip hit the Wayanad tunnel road project site, the state government has ordered a dual inquiry — into the cause of the disaster and alleged violations by the contracting firm — even as the search and rescue operations involving multiple agencies continued to locate five missing persons. Chief Minister V D Satheesan has ordered immediate halt to all construction activities for the tunnel road.
The two-pronged investigation will include technical and legal evaluations of the project site, as well as a thorough review to check whether the contractor complied with the directives set by the Union government while granting environmental clearance.
The landslip that occurred near Meenakshi Bridge in Kalladi, where work on the twin-tunnel road connecting Wayanad and Kozhikode districts was under way, had claimed three lives and left five persons missing.
After visiting the disaster site on Wednesday, Satheesan asserted that safety will not be compromised, and announced that work will remain suspended until the investigations are completed. “Before resuming work on the tunnel road, authorities will strictly inspect whether all prior directives and guidelines were followed,” he said. The police also will conduct an investigation simultaneously into the accident, the CM said.
He also visited the WIMS hospital in Meppadi, where eight injured persons — three in critical condition — are under treatment. The CM announced an ex gratia payment of Rs 5 lakh each to the families of the three migrant workers who lost their lives, promising that the state will manage the repatriation of their bodies.
On Wednesday, the disaster zone transformed into a hive of strategic activity, where a massive and highly coordinated search and rescue operation by multiple emergency agencies was under way. Ground operations intensified at dawn after emergency teams worked tirelessly through the night.
Around 4am, a joint force of the fire and rescue services, police, National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), and local volunteers cleared a massive mound of earth blocking the Meppadi-Chooralmala Road, making the transport corridor fully functional.
With the road cleared, a multi-agency force of 150 personnel shifted its focus to the active landslide zone, which was divided into four distinct operational sectors to maximise efficiency.
Govt will relocate people from high-risk zones, says CM
With the road cleared, a multi-agency force of 150 personnel shifted its focus to the landslip zone, which was divided into four operational sectors to maximise efficiency. Guided by architectural sketches mapped out by the NDRF, rescuers deployed specialised heavy tools alongside trained cadaver dogs to search for the five missing labourers. “Unless heavy rain impedes our progress, we expect to clear the remaining debris soon,” said Revenue Minister A P Anil Kumar, who camped in the district with Agriculture Minister T Siddique.
Ministers issued joint directives to the forest department, police, and the Integrated Tribal Development Project (ITDP) authorities to immediately evacuate and resettle families from risk-prone zones of Erattukundu, Kuppachi, Punchirimattam, Thannilode, Thazhe Aranamala, and Ayyappan hills. The district medical officer was instructed to set up a emergency health sub-centre in Chooralmala, having a dedicated team of doctors and nurses to treat isolated families.
Highlighting the ecological sensitivity of Western Ghats, Satheesan recalled how his previous warnings were dismissed. “Wayanad possesses an ecologically fragile soil structure, which poses a challenge to construction activities,” he noted, reiterating that the government will relocate residents from high-risk, vulnerable zones.
He visited the relief camp at the Meppadi Government Polytechnic College, where 129 people from Kalladi landslip-hit zone and other risk-prone areas in Meppadi panchayat are housed. They include a Tamil migrant family who escaped the disaster. “We are Meenakshi tea estate workers residing just 50m away from the road work site in our labour quarters,” said survivors Palraj and Kudamal.
Meanwhile, medical teams at the Meppadi WIMS Hospital continued to treat eight injured labourers. “Three—Dilip, Rajanish and Sooraj—are in the ICU. Dilip’s condition is very critical, with fractures spread across almost his entire body and is undergoing a stabilising surgery,” said Dr Shanavas Palliyal, deputy general manager of the facility.
As search for the missing continued into the night, the government finalised protocols to honour the deceased guest workers. Their remains were transported to the Kozhikode Medical College Hospital for embalming before being moved to Kochi, where arrangements were completed to airlift them back to their native places.
