Wayanad landslides: “Local people’s main demand was to be a part of the rescue operation,” says Congress MLA T Siddique

Wayanad (Kerala) [India], August 9 (ANI): Search and rescue operation continue in the areas affected by Wayanad landslides that occurred on July 30, claiming 225 lives and displacing thousands of people. Congress MLA and KPCC General Secretary T Siddique said that the main demand of the people who have been staying in the relief camps was that the rescue and the search operation must be carried out with their help as they know exactly where the incident happened.

“…The main demand of people staying in relief camps was that the rescue operation should be conducted along with them as they knew where the incident happened…We demanded from the cabinet committee that the recovery process should be done with the help of local people…Now, the rescue operation is being conducted with the help of local people…” said T Siddique.

IG North Zone, K Sethuraman emphasised that the people who got affected by the landslides must feel confident that the search operation is being carried out adequately and that no more bodies can be recovered there.

“It is not a mass search operation…The affected people should feel confident that the search operation is being done adequately and that no more bodies can be found there…It is to build confidence among them…People representatives, NGOs, political party representatives all of them are welcome…” said the IG North Zone.

Notably, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to visit landslide-affected sites in Wayanad on August 10 and the area will be handed over to the Special Protection Group (SPG).

In a press conference in Thiruvananthapuram on Thursday, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said that the state has requested the central government to declare this as a national disaster and a severe calamity.

It is noteworthy that the Kerala High Court has taken a suo moto cognizance of the Wayanad landslides. The division bench of justices Jayasankaran Nambiar and VM Shyamkumar directed the registry to take a suo moto case. The court also said that they should think about what can be done legally to control things like illegal mining and floods.