President of Kerala unit of the BJP PS Sridharan Pillai has said that the CPI (M)-led government in the State is trying to drum up anti-Centre sentiments over the issue of clearance of foreign aid for flood relief purportedly offered by the UAE.
Pillai described as completely baseless the insinuation by Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, State Secretary of the CPM, that the RSS is working behind the scenes to block the flow of aid to the State government.
CM visits camps
Meanwhile on Thursday, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan travelled to relief camps in Pathanamthitta, Alappuzha, Ernakulam and Thrissur districts and interacted with the inmates.
He enquired about their well-being and requested them to remain as one family while assuring them all support from the State government for rehabilitation and restoration of their livelihoods.
Late on Wednesday evening, the Chief Minister had addressed a news conference where he dismissed the Opposition charges that the devastating floods witnessed by the State were ‘a man-made disaster’ as baseless.
The Chief Minister was responding to a blistering attack launched by Leader of Opposition Ramesh Chennithala blaming the government for ‘faulty management’ of dams even as a crunch situation was building up.
‘Residents warned’
“Dams are never opened without an alert. In July second week, reservoirs were full. In the third week, dams were opened. It was announced they 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, a blue alert was given on July 25, the orange alert on August 1, and the red alert on August 8. These are official records, and were publicised in the media, Vijayan said.
The Opposition Leader had argued that the floods were effectively managed in 2013 by the then government which had foreseen the event and opened the smaller dams to reduce the risk of flooding.
‘Effectively managed’
But 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 gates as the rainfall recorded was much less.
In contrast, whenever alerts were issued this time round, 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 be opened before Idukki.