NEW DELHI, Aug 3: The Congress has moved a privilege motion in Rajya Sabha against the union home minister Amit Shah for “misleading” the House on advance warning to the Kerala government over the possible landslide in Wayanad.
Answering a calling attention motion on the subject, Mr Shah had said the first advance warning was sent to the State on July 23 and subsequent warnings were issued on July 24, 25 and 26. Nine National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) teams were sent on July 23 to prepare for the impending tragedy, he had said.
But fact-check by various organisations pointed out that the weather warnings issued by the India Meteorological Department (IMD) carried an orange alert for Kerala for July 25 and a yellow “watch” alert for July 23, 24, 26 and 27. A yellow alert doesn’t specifically call for action. It also said the IMD had issued an orange alert for very heavy rainfall at isolated places over Kerala and Mahe on July 29 and a red alert for July 30 was issued after the landslides hit Wayanad.
The Congress general secretary (communication) Jairam Ramesh, also the party’s chief whip in Rajya Sabha, wrote to Chairman of the Upper House Jagdeep Dhankhar citing the fact-check reports, which he said, clearly illustrates that the Home Minister “misled” the Rajya Sabha by his “emphatic statements on early warnings issued by the union government which have been proven to be false.” Mr Ramesh urged that privilege proceedings should be initiated against the Home Minister.
Meanwhile, the Kerala forest officials on Saturday undertook a daring eight-hour operation to rescue four toddlers and their parents belonging to a tribal community stranded in a cave atop a hill in the aftermath of the Wayanad landslides. The landslides, which occurred on July 30, have claimed the lives of 308 people and left hundreds more injured.
A four-member team led by Kalpetta range forest officer K Hashis rescued the tribal family which included four kids aged between one and four amid heavy rain and rocky terrain. Their heroic feat earned praise from Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.
“Six precious lives were saved from a remote tribal settlement after a tireless 8-hour operation by our courageous forest officials in landslide-hit Wayanad. Their heroism reminds us that Kerala’s resilience shines brightest in the darkest times. United in hope, we will rebuild and emerge stronger,” Vijayan wrote in an X post.
The family belonged to the Paniya community of Wayanad. Forest Officer K Hashis found the mother of the children wandering around Attamala forest in search of food. She then led the forest officers to a cave where the four toddlers were taking shelter.
“They normally survive on forest products and sell them in the local market to purchase rice. However, it seems like, due to the landslide and the heavy rains, they were unable to procure any food,” Hashis said. “The children were tired, and we fed them with whatever we had carried… We tied the children to our bodies and started our trek back,” he added.
(Manas Dasgupta)