Opening of all dams together in an inappropriate time had resulted in devastating floods in Kerala, Amicus Curiae said in Kerala High Court.There was flaws in dam management and despite warnings, no guidelines of Emergency Action Plan was followed,it added.
The state government suffered a major setback after amicus curiae’ report was made available in the public domain. “The dams were not opened at the right time. A judicial probe should be conducted to find out the reason for the floods. The dams were opened without following norms. The report of the national weather monitoring centre was not taken seriously. Adequate steps were not taken to face heavy rains.
The report pointed out that the statements filed by the state government, KSEB and DSA were silent about the existence or operation of dams in Kerala in accordance with dam specific rule curves.
The report also said that no proper follow-up action and effective precautionary steps, especially for evacuating people and accommodating them in safe locations, though the red alert was sounded.
The report said that none of the 79 dams in Kerala were operated or used for the purpose of flood control or moderation. Dams in Kerala had not maintained effective flood control zone and the flood cushion as per the directive of BIS, O and M manual and RTIOR.
The report also suggested a more detailed inquiry on the Kerala floods by an independent expert inquiry committee headed by a former judge of a superior court and preferably consisting of a reputed hydrologist, experts in dam management and engineers.
The petition filed by Metro Man E Sreedharan and others were pending before the court. Sreedharan submitted that the mid-August deluge which claimed more than 470 lives and horrendous damage was indeed a manmade disaster.
The petition stated that he had approached the government citing the need for a comprehensive technical study of the reasons for the flood happened in August last year. Even three months after sending the letter to the Chief Minister and the Vice Chairman, Kerala Planning Board, no action has been taken. This inaction from the government was due to the fear in the minds of the authorities that their omissions and commissions would be exposed and individuals and the government itself would be held responsible for the tragedy.
Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala asked Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan to apologize on the incident where 450 lost their lives in the floods. The opposition has decided to focus on this in the coming polls. BJP State President said that the chief minister should resign. A case should be filed against the chief minister, power minister and other officials for homicide.
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