India News | Opposition Walks out of Assembly over Denial to Discuss Kerala Govt Handling of Recent Rain-related Disasters

Thiruvananthapuram, Oct 25 (PTI) The Congress-led opposition in the Kerala Assembly on Monday walked out of the session after the Speaker rejected its demand for putting the proceedings on hold to discuss the Left government's alleged failure in dealing with the recent rain-related disasters which claimed 55 lives in the State.

Also Read | Rajasthan Shocker: Stalker Allegedly Kills Woman in Jalore, Arrested.

The opposition members, including MLAs Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan, Mani C Kappan, K K Rama and K P A Majeed, had issued a notice for putting on hold the session to discuss how the government handled the disasters, but it was objected to by Revenue Minister K Rajan.

Also Read | Madhya Pradesh Shocker: Woman Raped on Pretext of Marriage for 3 Years in Bhopal, Accused Booked.

As the Speaker rejected the notice, the Leader of Opposition in the Assembly V D Satheesan and other members of the UDF walked out of the session in protest.

When the notice was raised during the session, Rajan opposed it by giving details of the steps taken by the government to deal with the floods and landslides over the last two weeks.

Based on past experiences, he said, guidelines were in place to deal with such disasters.

He further said appropriate measures according to the guidelines were taken and besides that, an expert committee, based on the rule curve, took decisions regarding opening of the dams.

Rajan's reply was not accepted by Radhakrishnan who said alerts were issued late by the government after the landslides occurred.

Radhakrishnan claimed that had timely alerts been issued, loss of lives could have been avoided or reduced.

Rajan, in his reply, said the government cannot on its own issue an alert and the same is issued based on the report of the IMD.

He further said the government and its officials acted in a coordinated manner to ensure the loss of lives was not huge and their efforts need to be appreciated.

Speaker M B Rajesh, thereafter, accepted the details given by Rajan and rejected the demand for putting on hold the proceedings.

Consequently, Satheesan said a discussion on how the government handled the situation was being sought in general public interest and not for slinging mud at the administration.

He said Kerala, which at one time was seen as a safe and secure place, has now been designated as a disaster-prone area as since 2017, when the cyclonic storm Ockhi came here, this is the fifth consecutive time a natural disaster has struck the State.

The inter-government report on climate changes, which after examining 195 countries, has designated Kerala as one of the disaster-prone areas of the world, he said.

Despite recurring natural disasters, the Left government has not yet upgraded the disaster management system, the early warning weather mechanism or the relief and rescue measure, Satheesan said.

The government was entirely dependent only on the general warnings being issued by the IMD, but was not acting upon that too, he alleged.

Satheesan said the India Meteorological Department (IMD) on October 14 had warned of heavy rains on October 15-17, but the government took no action.

He said there is no protocol in place for disaster rescue efforts and no flood zone mapping has been carried out by the government and moreover, thousands of quarries, which have no licence, are being permitted to function.

He said there should be a disaster plan for every district, but the same has not been done.

"The State Disaster Management Authority (SDMA) has a meteorological department. What is that doing? It should have analysed the general weather warnings and data. That is its function. But what has it done? What has it done," Satheesan said.

He said since the government has allegedly failed to prevent environmental damage and made no efforts towards disaster mitigation, he and his party were walking out from the proceedings in protest against the denial to discuss the issues raised by the opposition. PTI

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)