Leader of the Opposition Ramesh Chennithala has said that the government has failed at every stage of the crisis arising from the heavy monsoon rain and the resultant floods.
In an article here on Tuesday, Mr. Chennithala said the government had failed to go by the water management protocol and to take appropriate precautionary measures before opening the dams. It could not foresee the looming crisis though the dams in Idukki had filled up in July itself.
There were also warnings about landslips. The eyes of the government were clearly on the money it could earn by selling the power to be generated in Idukki, he said.
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The Opposition Leader said the government’s inept handling of the situation had finally forced it to open all the dams simultaneously. Eight dams were opened in Idukki and nine dams across river Pamba.
The main reason for the sudden increase in water in several places was the decision to open all these dams simultaneously without giving sufficient warning to the people. In the north, the Banasura Sagar Dam was opened without intimating the decision to even the District Collector.
The government did not also go by the guidelines of the Central Water Commission. The government should have made a clear assessment of the possible level of inundation when each dam was opened and made preparations for evacuation and rehabilitation of the people living in areas of possible inundation, but this was not done. The situation turned worse with little coordination in the rescue operations. If the rescue operations had been handed over entirely to the armed forces, they would have done a better job and saved more lives.
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The impact of the floods would be severe on the State’s farm, financial, industrial and labour sectors. The government should answer several questions about its handling of the situation. These answers can be found only if there was a judicial inquiry into the way the government had handled the floods and the resultant crisis, Mr. Chennithala said.