Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has hit back at Union Home Minister Amit Shah. Home Minister Shah had said that the state government was already warned about floods and landslides. Addressing the media in Thiruvananthapuram on Wednesday, the Chief Minister said, ‘The central government should also understand that there are serious issues related to climate change. Have we seen such extreme rainfall in the past as we are seeing now? We need to work on climate change. When something like this happens, you cannot escape responsibility by blaming others. As I said, I don’t think this is the time to blame.
Pinarayi Vijayan was responding to Amit Shah’s statement in the Rajya Sabha, in which the Home Minister had said that a warning was given to the Kerala government on July 23.
Amit Shah said, ‘The Center has spent more than Rs 2,000 crore to develop the early warning system since 2014. I want to clarify that on July 23, the Center had given a prior warning to the Kerala government seven days before the incident, and then on July 24 and 25, we warned them again. On July 26, a warning was given that there is a possibility of heavy rainfall of more than 20 cm and landslides may also occur.
‘It rained much more than the warning’
The Home Minister said that in view of the possibility of landslides on July 23, nine NDRF teams were sent to Kerala. Amit Shah asked, ‘What did the Kerala government do? Did you send people elsewhere? And if they sent him, then how did he lose his life?’ On this, Pinarayi Vijayan said that the central government’s weather warning was that there would be 115-204 mm of rain in Wayanad. But in the next 48 hours the area received 572 mm of rain.
The Chief Minister further said that only Orange Alert was issued on the day of the landslide. He said, ‘Before the tragedy, red alert was not issued even once in the area. Only after the landslide occurred, a red alert was issued at 6 am that day.
The Chief Minister said that on July 29, the Geological Survey of India had issued a green alert for July 30 and 31, in which there was a possibility of minor landslides or rock bursts. However, by that time there had been heavy rains and landslides had occurred.
The Chief Minister said that the Union Home Minister has presented such information in Parliament which does not match the facts. Pinarayi Vijayan said, ‘When he (Amit Shah) proudly says that we are the best (among the countries giving early warning), I am just saying that such mistakes have also been made. I am not saying this to blame them.