"Man-made, Communist-Congress made disaster": BJP MP Tejasvi Surya on Wayanad landslides

Bengaluru: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Tejasvi Surya on Saturday criticized Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, stating that the landslides that occurred in Wayanad in Kerala were a man-made disaster.
He alleged that the disaster was created by the Communist-Congress party, as the Kerala government ignored warnings about illegal commercialization, mining, and quarrying activities in eco-sensitive zones in the western ghats since 2000.
He added that not just he, but experts in ecology in the Western Ghats ecosystem have been repeatedly saying what has happened in Kerala is a man-made disaster.
"What has happened in Wayanad is not a natural disaster. It is a man-made disaster, I have been repeating this. Not just me, experts in ecology in the western ghat ecosystem - like Madhav Gadgil - have been repeatedly saying that what has happened in Kerala is a man-made disaster," Surya told ANI.
"Starting from 2000 to now, this year in January, multiple panel reports, government organisations, scientific organisations, IIT Delhi kept warning the state government against the rampant illegal commercialisation, mining, and quarrying activities that are happening in the eco-sensitive zones in the western ghats," he added.
"The Congress party rejected all of these things, did not take any action, nor has the UDF or LDF Government that was in power in Kerala all these years taken any action," he added.
He further accused the Communist government of wanting to ban all scientific organizations and media organizations from understanding what actually went wrong in Wayanad.
"This is the reality and today, at a time when hundreds of people have lost their lives, instead of trying to understand what actually went wrong, go to the root of the matter and try to scientifically address it, the Communist government wants to ban all scientific organisations, media organisations to come and understand what actually went wrong in Wayanad. This is a man-made, Communist-Congress-made disaster that has taken place in Wayanad," he added.
Meanwhile, the search and rescue operations in Kerala's Wayanad entered the fifth consecutive day on Saturday as several people are still feared trapped in the debris.
The death toll in the massive landslides that occurred on July 30 in Chooralmala and Mundakkai of Wayanad stands at 308 as of Friday, Kerala Health Minister Veena George said.
As per the latest update, 215 bodies and 143 body parts were recovered including 98 males, 87 females and 30 children. The post-mortem procedures were completed on 212 bodies and 140 body parts and 148 bodies were identified by relatives so far.