Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has dismissed as baseless the Opposition charges that the devastating floods witnessed by the State were “a man-made disaster’’.
The Chief Minister's statement came in as response to a blistering attack by the Leader of Opposition, Ramesh Chennithala, on the 'faulty management' of dams even as a crunch situation had built up.
“Dams are never opened without an alert. In July second week, reservoirs were full. In the third week, dams were opened. It was announced that the dams will be opened in a phased manner,” Vijayan said.
After the rivers overflowed, residents along the rivers were warned and asked to move out. Care was taken not to open the gates at Idukki and Idamalayar together since it would cause major flooding. In the case of the Idamalayar dam, a blue alert was given on July 25, orange alert on August 1, and red alert on August 8. These are official records, and was publicised in the media, Vijayan said.
The Chief Minister countered Chennithala’s allegation saying that the dams were opened not during night when people were asleep, as he had alleged, but only in the morning. Neither were 44 of them opened together, with the Chief Minister stating that they had to open a few at the same time due to the unexpected intensity of the rains.
When a reservoir is full, there is no option but to release excess water. Still, authorities had also avoided opening the Idukki and Idamalayar dams together since it would have worsened the situation.
Effectively managed
Drawing parallels to the 2013 monsoon, the Opposition Leader had argued that the floods were effectively managed by the then government which had foreseen the rains and opened the smaller dams instead of the Idukki dam to reduce the extent risk of flooding.
To this, Pinarayi Vijayan said that the 2013 rains were normal in comparison to what the State witnessed this year. Despite some dams reaching full reservoir level in 2013, there was no requirement to open the sluice gates as the State had received much lesser rainfall at the time.
Whenever alerts were issued this time, officials responsible were prompt in updating the media and immediate action was also taken to alert and evacuate people living near the dam.
Responding to Chennithala’s accusation that there was a delay in opening the Idukki dam shutters despite water levels reaching 2,397 ft against a full reservoir level of 2,403 ft, Vijayan said that all arrangements had been made to open the shutters on a trial run basis.
However, due to excessive rainfall, the Idamalayar dam had to opened before Idukki dam, he said.