‘Metro Man’ E Sreedharan, president of Foundation for Restoration of National Values, submitted before the Kerala High Court that the killer floods of August 2018 were man–made. The petition was submitted on Monday, January 28. The floods had claimed 470 lives.
According to his petition, he had sent letters to Chief Minister of Kerala Pinarayi Vijayan and the vice-chairman of the state’s Planning Board highlighting the need for a comprehensive technical study of the reasons for the August floods; but, there was no action. He believes the inaction is due to their fear that their omissions and commissions would come to light hence the individuals and even government would be held responsible.
Sreedharan’s petition seeks a directive to form a high level council consisting of three or four prominent engineers to trace the reasons for the unprecedented floods. It would equip the country to face similar calamities in the future. The Kerala government is bound to make sure that it does not repeat.
Sreedharan says the dam authorities did not take red alerts seriously. They were keen to reserve as much water as possible in view of the droughts in the past. He also underlined the absence of a scientific study. He also cites lack of co-ordination between different dam authorities and absence of data to assess the combined effect of the opening of the different dams. There was no centralised agency to oversee the opening of the shutters of various dams.
The eminent engineer believes unauthorised structures within the rivers’ ”territory” were the main reason for the floods in Peryar (Aluva river), because, they blocked the natural flow of river. Man-made bunds and the Vembanad Lake gate’s insufficient capacity to discharge paved the way for floods in Kuttanad region.
BJP and other Opposition parties have been blaming LDF regime for their failure in taking timely and proper actions to avoid the floods. Now, the petition filed by the country’s engineer par excellence vindicates those allegations.
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