Wayanad landslides not a ‘national disaster’, says Centre

The Chooralmala and Mundakkai landslides of July 30—Kerala's largest landslide disaster to date—cannot be declared a “national disaster”, the central government has informed the state. In a letter, Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityananda Rai conveyed to Kerala’s special envoy in Delhi, K.V. Thomas, that current provisions do not permit the designation of the landslide tragedy as a national disaster.

Notably, Kerala has incurred losses of over Rs 1,200 crore from the landslides in Wayanad district, where more than 420 people were killed and over a hundred went missing. The Kerala government requested the declaration of a ‘national disaster’ within a week after the landslides occurred. Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi—who has been elected twice from the Wayanad constituency—also appealed in Parliament to have the calamity declared a national disaster. 

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However, in a 2013 Lok Sabha reply, Mullappally Ramachandran, then Minister of State for Home under UPA-II, indicated that "there is no provision to declare a natural disaster as a national disaster". Ramachandran is one of the senior Congress leaders from Kerala.

The issue has already triggered a political slugfest. Notably, the BJP has accused the UDF and the LDF of playing politics by repeatedly requesting the landslides be declared a national disaster, despite knowing that such a provision does not exist. Meanwhile, UDF leaders have lashed out at the LDF-led state government, claiming that a lack of enthusiasm from the state government prevented it from securing financial assistance from the center.

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The LDF is expected to counter the UDF by highlighting Ramachandran’s Lok Sabha statement made when Congress was in power at the Center, while also continuing to hold the BJP government at the centre accountable for delays in rehabilitation efforts.