Wayanad(Kerala): Kerala Chief Minister V D Satheesan on Wednesday visited the landslide-affected area of the hill district and said that the focus currently was on searching for the five persons missing.
The CM, who also visited the injured persons in the hospital and the people relocated to relief camps, told reporters here that the continuous rain was posing a hurdle in the search and rescue operations.
The India Meteorological Department has issued a red alert in the district for the day, indicating the possibility of extremely heavy rainfall in the region.
Satheesan also held a review meeting in connection with the search operations, and it was attended by Ministers T Siddique and A P Anilkumar, Congress MP from Wayanad Priyanka Gandhi Vadra online.
A landslide on July 7 at the site of the Anakkompoyil-Meppadi tunnel project for connecting Wayanad and Kozhikode districts claimed the lives of three migrant workers and injured 10 others, with five persons still missing.
In the press conference, following the review meeting, Satheesan told reporters that of the injured, four are fine, three were discharged and three were in the ICU, with two of them in critical condition.
He said that priority was being given to the search for the five missing persons.
The CM said that the large number of fire force, police and NDRF personnel deployed on the ground completed the search of zone 1 and will finish looking through zone 3 by Thursday morning.
They will also search areas downstream of the river, he added.
Besides that, the people living in the areas considered to be danger zones have been relocated to relief camps, he said.
Satheesan said that the incident was confined to a small area in Wayanad and should not be projected as being spread across the district, as it would affect the lives and livelihoods of people living here.
He also reiterated that two committees will be formed, one to carry out a "techno-legal" study of the reasons for the disaster and the other to investigate whether the directives given by the central government, while granting environmental clearance to the project, have been complied with by the construction company.
He said that till the study and the investigation are completed, the tunnel project work will be kept on hold.
He made these announcements in a press conference earlier in the day following the Cabinet meeting.
The CM said there will also be a police investigation into the incident, which will examine if there were any lapses or negligence on the part of the contractors.
"I will not blame anyone now. I will wait for the report of the committees and the outcome of the police investigation," he said.
At the same time, he also told the reporters that the contractors did not abide by the directions of the Public Works Department and the District Collector to remove the mud accumulated at the site.
The CM also said that once the search operations are over, the government will consider formulating a scheme for rehabilitating the people of the area.
He said that the government will approve the report given by the district administration and the people's representatives in this regard.
"The government is ready to rehabilitate as many people as required. We want them to be safe. We will not ask them to stay in a dangerous place. I have given this assurance to the people I met in the relief camps," he said.
Satheesan also said that Wayanad has been given a big priority in the budget like never before and that the various packages and initiatives, like the proposed Tribal University, will be implemented in a time-bound manner.
"Once all this is over, I will hold a meeting here with the people's representatives and will announce a time frame for the implementation of the projects," he said.
Satheesan, who reached the disaster site in the afternoon, said in a Facebook post -- "Reached the disaster site in Wayanad. Assessed the rescue operation. Met the injured. Together we will survive. Kerala is with us." He also shared photographs of him visiting the site and meeting the injured at the hospital.
