Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday told Parliament that the Kerala government had been warned of the Wayanad natural disaster by advisories based on an early warning system continuously on four days from 23rd July, and it was up to the state government to take appropriate measures.

He was responding to calling attention motion debates on the Wayanad disaster in both the Houses of Parliament during which members demanded a special package of relief and declaration of the incident as a national disaster.

Advertisement

The Home Minister said the Centre had already sent nine battalions of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) on 23rd July itself and three more NDRF teams were sent on Tuesday. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is in constant touch with the Centre’s Control Room while Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai is monitoring the situation while stationed at the Control Room.

Shah said the states that were acting on the Central advisories had saved great loss of life and property. Odisha, at one time, suffered a loss of 10,000 lives and now had reduced it to zero by taking advance steps. Similarly, Gujarat had acted on early warnings.

He told the Lok Sabha that an advisory was given for shifting 4,000 families but it was not implemented. In the current disaster, 1,000 people have been shifted. Mr Shah said the government has already planned to bring a Bill to strengthen the disaster law.

The home minister said the early warning system had been established in the country at an expense of Rs 2,000 crore during 2016-2023. It can give warnings about heavy rain and even strike by lightening. He said a state can spend 100 per cent of the State disaster relief fund allocation keeping rules in view.

Mr Nityanand Rai said Central Minister George Kurian was sent to the state and he is updating the prime minister and the home minister, who are watching the situation day and night.

Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, who represented the Wayanad constituency in the last Lok Sabha, spoke during the short debate and said it was one of the biggest tragedies to strike Kerala. He said a similar incident had taken place five years ago, showing the area was ecologically sensitive. The security forces and the Army are doing a good job at the disaster site.

Mr N K Premachandran (RSP), representing Kollam in Kerala, said 160 bodies had been recovered while 200 persons are missing. He said MPs can contribute from MPLADS for the rehabilitation work.

Mr Tejasvi Surya (BJP) said 60 per cent of the country’s landslides are in Kerala and there were 350 deaths in five years. Despite warnings, no illegal encroachments were removed or mining reduced on heights.

Mr K C Venugopal (Congress) said politics can wait and both Central and state governments have to take relief measures.

In the Rajya Sabha, several members spoke that three villages were under the debris and there were reports that Arab sea water getting warm had caused the heavy rain. It was stated that development work like cutting of mountains and creation of a lake were responsible for the disaster.