Union Home Minister Amit Shah's comment that Kerala was sent a red alert about heavy rains and landslide, has been negated by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, who indicated that it was a case of too little too late. Not only was the rain warning way off mark, the red alerts came hours after the Wayanad tragedy, he told reporters this evening.
Pointing to the continuing rescue work, Mr Vijayan also said this was "not the time for blame game".
Search operation in the landslide-hit zone of Wayanad is in progress amid torrential downpour. Around 200 people continue to be missing and 205 are confirmed dead.
"I do not wish to engage in a blame game now as the people in Wayanad are going through untold misery on account of the massive landslide. But the fact of the matter is that there were predictions that came out and they never mentioned a red alert in the affected area. In fact, the red alert came on Tuesday at 6 am, when the tragedy occurred several hours before," Mr Vijayan was quoted as saying by news agency IANS.
"The IMD had predicted rains to the tune of 115 mm to 204 mm in the affected area. But in the first 24 hours, there was 200 mm and in the next 24 hours, 372 mm rain came down, making it a staggering 572 mm in 48 hours — much more than predicted. So with these being the facts, I wish to state, that this is not the time for wrangling," Mr Vijayan added.
The Chief Minister also said that there was no prediction of landslides from the Geological Survey of India and when this came, the tragedy had already taken place.
"Then there was an alert from the Central Water Commission and it said that from July 23 to 29, not for one single day… of the two rivers which got swollen, there was no mention at all. What was said in the Parliament is not true," he said. He even pointed out that there was a mention that the NDRF (National Desaster Response Force) was sent early, "but the fact is we asked for it".
Earlier today, Mr Shah had told parliament that the Kerala government was given warning about potential landslides on July 23 — a week before the Wayanad tragedy.
"India is among four countries that can provide warning on natural disasters at least seven days in advance," he had said, underscoring that the Centre had also sent nine NDRF teams. "The Kerala government did not evacuate people in time," he had told Rajya Sabha.