The Kerala government has ordered a dual probe into the mudslide at the under-construction Meppadi-Kallady tunnel in Wayanad that killed three people and left five others missing on Tuesday.
The dual probe will include technical and legal evaluation of the project site, as well as a comprehensive review to determine whether the contracting company had strictly complied with the conditions and directives laid down by the Centre when granting environmental clearance.
Search operations were under way but incessant rain was giving a hard time to the two cadaver dogs and the rescue workers on Wednesday.
Speaking to reporters in Thiruvananthapuram after the weekly cabinet meeting, chief minister V.D. Satheesan said ₹5 lakh would be given to the kin of the deceased in the Wayanad mudslide.
In a blow to the three contracting agencies behind the construction of the twin-tunnel projects, Satheesan said work on the landmark tunnel road would remain suspended and resume only after the probe reports were submitted and cleared.
“I was ridiculed earlier by the CPM when I highlighted the need for conducting serious environmental studies in the Wayanad tunnel project before going ahead. Despite the initial hiccup, the central government approved the project with 50 strict instructions, considering the fragile and sensitive ecosystem,” said Satheesan.
The government has also decided to examine the claims by engineers at the accident site that the tragedy was triggered by a landslide at the hilltop and not a mudslide.
Satheesan later visited the accident site and spoke to officials of the National Disaster Response Force, the fire and rescue departments and the police. The site has been divided into four zones, while downstream stretches of the river are also being searched. The two cadaver dogs braved the rain and continued with their search.
Satheesan met the injured at the hospital and those who were shifted to the relief camps. He also held a high-level meeting of officials at the Wayanad collectorate. The deceased include Chandraban, an operator from Madhya Pradesh, Bikash Kumar, a civil foreman from Bihar, and Anmol, a labourer from Jharkhand. Anmol’s
body has been flown back home from Nedumbassery airport
in Ernakulam.
While the Kerala government had accused the contracting agencies of accumulating the huge mound of mud excavated for the twin tunnel projects, one of the contracting agencies, Dilip Buildcon, said in a statement: “The Anakkampoyil-Kalladi-Meppadi tunnel project in Kerala was being executed in compliance with all regulatory, engineering and environmental approvals. The incident occurred during an intense monsoon spell that brought 265mm of rainfall within 24 hours. The India Meteorological Department had issued warnings for heavy to very heavy rainfall across parts of Kerala.”
