Union Environment Minister Blames State Government For Illegal Habitation In Disaster-Hit Wayanad
As rescue efforts are going on to find the trapped in the massive landslide that hit Kerala’s Wayanad, claiming at least 390 lives so far, Union Minister Environment Bhupender Yadav today blamed the state government for illegal activities in the landslide-prone region. Speaking to the reporters, the minister said that the area where the landslide struck was a highly sensitive area, and that they felt it is a mistake made by them (the state government), allowing illegal human habitation and mining activities.
The minister also emphasised that the local politicians provided illegal protection to the illegal human habitation, adding that even in the name of tourism, they are not making proper zones, and that they allowed the encroachment of this area.”
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Notably, BJP MP Tejavi Surya on Saturday gave a similar statement, calling the calamity a “Congress-Communist made disaster, stating that it was due to encroachment in the area that the tragedy struck the region.
Asserting that the catastrophe in Wayanad was not a natural disaster, the BJP MP alleged that the Congress party rejected all of the warnings against the illegal commercialisation, mining, and quarrying activities “in the eco-sensitive zones in the western ghats.” He also said that the UDF or LDF Government that was in power in Kerala all these years did not take any action against the encroachments.
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On Saturday, a former BJP MLA, Gyan Dev Ahuja linked the disaster in Wayanad to cow slaughter, saying that if the practice continues, similar tragedies will occur again in Kerala. The remark stirred outrage against the BJP leader, with CPI General Secretary D Raja accusing the saffron party of trying to communalise the entire tragedy when the people are suffering.
While the Congress party had urged the central government to declare the Wayanad landslides as a national disaster, the BJP claimed that the concept of declaring a disaster national does not exist under central government guidelines.
