Wayanad landslide : 2020 state disaster management authority warning totally ignored in Mundakkai

Wayanad: Has the recommendations made by the Kerala State Disaster Management Authority (KSDMA) in 2020 fell in deaf years? The answer seems to be yes in all probability as there was a clear warning that has been issued to the revenue department of the state for directing 4000 families living in the eastern slope of the western ghats to vacate immediately as the regions are landslide-prone. Incidentally, Chooral Mala and Mundakkai falls under the region that was specified by the government agency.

The entire stretch of ‘Vellarmala hills’ that was worst affected are part of the mountain scape known as ‘Camel Hump’ series of mountains and the entire stretch has been classified as land-slide prone zone. As per the District Disaster Management plan prepared by the KSDMA, Mundakkai and Chooral Mala, the worst affected regions in the landslides falls under the ambit of this map.

The question is: ‘Why didn’t the government wake up to this call that was made four years ago when there were similar landslides reported meters away from the spot where the landslides happened on July 30th?’.

“This is a clear criminal negligence by the government and its revenue officials who should have acted on an emergency basis at that point of time. 24 hours before the tragedy in Mundakkai region a civil society group has warned of landslides in the region and has been asking the government to vacate people. But some five or six families were shifted. Nothing happened beyond that”, said Sridhar R, environmentalist to News9.

Mundakkai had witnessed landslides in 1984 and 2020. In 2020, many families in the region had moved following continuous warnings that was issued by various agencies.

However, many experts have now begun questioning the proposed Rs 2000 crore mega tunnel project, located two kilometers from the Mundakkai landslide spot which they say is nothing but a possible disaster that could happen if the project goes ahead.

“This project is envisaged to meet the greed of few rich people including businessman and politicians. The tunnel if completed will lead to a major disaster similar to what we witnessed now. The tunnels end point in Wayanad is at Kannadippalam which is situated two kilometers away from Mundakkai”, said Wayanad Prakrithi Samrakshana Samithi president N Badusdha to News9.