Kerala disaster: Flood report blames government, CM Pinarayi Vijayan scurrying for cover

Kerala disaster: Flood report blames government, CM Pinarayi Vijayan scurrying for cover

FPJ BureauUpdated: Wednesday, May 29, 2019, 12:11 AM IST
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Thiruvananthapuram: A report by a Kerala High Court-appointed authority released at the most inopportune time has the Pinarayi government scurrying for cover.

An amicus curiae, appointed by the High Court to study the circumstances that led to the century’s worst floods in Kerala leading to the death of 450 people and an estimated loss of Rs 31,000 crore, has blamed the state government for the way it handled the problem.

The report comes at a time when the state government is already facing flak for the tardy progress in the much-hyped reconstruction work, a hot topic of campaign by the opposition UDF and BJP in the run-up to the election. The court appointed the amicus curiae to assist in deciding a batch of petitions alleging that the floods were a man- madedisaster caused by the sudden release of water from the reservoirs without proper precaution.

The petitioners include E Sreedharan, leading technocrat from the state, who shot to fame for his exemplary contribution in building Delhi Metro. Fondly called the ‘Metro Man’, he has also been involved with Kochi Metro.

The amicus curiae report concluded that high storage levels in dams in the first week of August 2018, coupled with sudden discharge from them during August 15-17, the absence of a proper flood-forecasting system, reduced storage capacity of dams due to siltation, etc may have aggravated the floods.

The report recommends a judicial enquiry into the whole affair. Leader of Opposition Ramesh Chennithala has asked Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan to own responsibility for the death of 450 people in the devastation.

He squarely blamed the government for negligence. The opposition United Democratic Front has all along been maintaining that it was a man-made disaster and the amicus curiae report could not have come at a better time for them as the issue can be expected to invigorate its attack further during the election campaign.

Social media has been set on fire by the findings. Power minister MM Mani, whose rustic ways have always been a hit with his detractors, has become a butt of ridicule for his role in overseeing the release of water from the dams.

He could see water getting filled up in the dam only in terms of the additional power it could generate, but spared no thought on what could happen if the situation got out of control. Mani had once landed himself in trouble by saying that the CPI-M brooked no opposition and simply exterminated three men who happened to be on the opposite side.

The infamous speech in which he enumerated the murders in terms of ”1,2,3” in the style that ”one was hacked to death; one shot to death and one beaten to death”, landed him behind the bars, though briefly. Now social media is adding another line: ”450 were drowned to death”.  Mani got so furious with the findings of the report that he refused to talk when newsmen approached him for his reaction.

The impact of such creativity was not lost on the government and the ruling party, as Pinarayi and other top functionaries went into a huddle to think up a strategy to counter the offensive. The exercise did not go in vein. The chief minister came up with the argument that the report suffered from lack of technical expertise. He sought to highlight the distinction between the findings of the report and the views of the court.

“The amicus curiae report can be accepted or rejected. It is not even an observation or comment by the court,” he said. He asserted that the report had not been prepared after consulting all the experts. The government and the ruling front also launched a damage control exercise by alleging that the report was released to coincide with the elections. They also sought to ”expose” the political affiliations of amicus curiae Jacob P Alex.

But even such attack has given Pinarayi-baiters an opportunity to recall incidents in which CPI-M cadres turned their ire against the courts whenever adverse remarks came from the judges. There were even instances in the past when a certain judge was ”symbolically exiled” for issuing an order that did not go down well with the party.

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