Kerala to probe Wayanad landslide, review tunnel project clearance compliance: CM Satheesan

Kerala Chief Minister V D Satheesan on Wednesday (July 8) announced that the state government will carry out a thorough probe into the reasons behind the Wayanad landslide. The disaster took place on Tuesday (July 7) and resulted in three deaths.

Probe into landslide

Speaking to reporters, the Chief Minister further stated that the government will also investigate whether the directives issued by the Centre while issuing environment clearance to the tunnel project were complied with by the construction company.

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"The landslide incident in Wayanad is extremely unfortunate. The government will conduct a detailed techno-legal study, and subsequently, we will investigate the causes of this incident. We will also examine whether the construction company is adhering to the conditions laid down by the Central Government's Environment Department...,” said Satheesan.

“The Wayanad District Collector, who also heads the District Disaster Management Authority, had ordered the removal of the entire stockpile of soil from the site last month, yet the contractors failed to take any action. The PWD Minister and other officials visited the site and had even warned the concerned parties about the potential for a disaster,” he added as quoted by ANI.

Cabinet orders review

Elaborating further, the Chief Minister said that the decision to carry out the examinations was taken in a Cabinet meeting chaired by him in the morning after reviewing the reports related to the landslide.

Also Read: Three killed in Wayanad landslide identified as migrant workers

The CM said that the Cabinet has also decided to take all legal and technical steps required to find out the reasons for the incident.

He said that there were reports that the landslide occurred above the construction site. "We will examine that too," he added.

(With agency inputs)