Wayanad landslides: Centre gave advance warning but Kerala government didn't pay heed, says Amit Shah

New Delhi: As Wayanad was devastated by a landslide that claimed several lives, Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday blamed the Kerala government in the Parliament for not heeding to the warning sent as early as July 23 regarding a possible natural disaster in the area due to heavy rains.

However, he said that the union government stands firm with the Kerala government in dealing with the aftermath of the landslides in Wayanad.

Speaking during a 'Calling Attention Motion' on the situation arising out of the devastating landslide in Wayanad district, Shah said that the Kerala government did not get alerted even by the arrival of 9 National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) battalions and if added that if they had acted on time, several lives could have been saved.

His remarks in Rajya Sabha came after some of the MPs like Raghav Chadha, Jebi Mather and A A Rahim claimed that early warning systems should have been there in place to warn the state before such a disaster. Mather and Rahim alleged that there was no early warning system that could have come out in help for Kerala.

Shah also made similar remarks in Lok Sabha.

Rebutting the claims, Shah said early warning alerts were sent to Kerala on July 23, 24, 25 and 26 about possible landslides. He said several other states had heeded to the early warning and no casualties have been reported there.

"A cyclone warning before seven days was given to Odisha and there was only one death. A cyclone warning three days prior to the event in Gujarat ensured that not even a single animal was killed... What did the Kerala government do to help the vulnerable? Why were they not evacuated? If they were shifted, why are there so many deaths?" he asked.

Replying to the motion, Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai informed the House that the death toll may rise.

Participating in the debate, MPs like John Brittas and Rahim (CPIM); Mather (Congress); Saket Gokhale (Trinamool Congress); and Mujibullah Khan (BJD) among others demanded that the Wayanad disaster be declared a national calamity.

In the last seven years, Brittas said, around 60 per cent or 2,239 out of 3,582 landslides that occurred in the country were in Kerala. He urged the union government to provide all possible help to the state in dealing with the situation.

Mather said the Rs 2 lakh compensation announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi was "very less" and demanded that it should be raised to Rs 25 lakh. Gokhale demanded that Modi should conduct an aerial survey, which will give a lot of confidence to the people.

DMK floor leader Tiruchi Siva said deforestation is one of the main reasons for such disasters and there should be an immediate stop to it. 

BJP's Surender Singh Nagar sought to drag Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, a former MP from Wayanad, into the debate by saying that if he was serious enough about Wayanad earlier, he would have raised the issues earlier. Rahul had resigned as Wayanad MP as he decided to retain the Rae Bareli seat, the second seat which he won in the recent Lok Sabha elections. Another BJP MP Lahar Singh Siroya also targeted Rahul in the Lok Sabha.