People who lost everything can’t be called encroachers: Kerala CM slams Union Environment Minister

Thiruvananthapuram: Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Tuesday slammed Union Minister of Environment Bhupender Yadav for his remarks on Wayanad landslide victims, saying that those people who have lost everything cannot be called encroachers.

“Anyone who knows the hardworking Wayanad people, living in the high-range areas, would never insult them. They are the worst affected people due to the landslide. How can the people who lost everything be called encroachers,” the Chief Minister said.

On Monday, the Union Environment Minister alleged that the Wayanad area has been encroached illegally by the people, who have grabbed the land with the help of local politicians, putting Kerala’s environment at great risk.

The Chief Minister said that the needless reference to the disaster by the Union Environemnt Minister could have been avoided as people are suffering.

“It is completely wrong to blame the state government and the local politicians for the encroachments and the mining activities which resulted in the worst ever disaster the Wayanad has witnessed,” the Chief Minister said.

The Chief Minister said that the Centre is using the Press Information Bureau (PIB) to malign the image of Kerala by publishing articles against the state government.

“PIB has been asked to get articles written by experts against Kerala. These reports have to be believed in the light of the statement from the Union Minister,” the Chief Minister said.

Meanwhile, the rescue operations in landslide-affected four villages of Kerala's Wayanad entered the eighth day on Tuesday with the death toll reaching 402 and around 170 still missing.

The over 1,200-strong rescue team comprising personnel from all the Defence forces, NDRF, SDRF, police, fire services and volunteers began searches early in the morning in the four worst-affected areas in Churalmala, Velarimala, Mundakayil and Punchirimadom.

Special teams have been searching in the Chaliyar River from where several bodies and dismembered body parts were recovered in the past few days.

DNA tests are being conducted on all such body parts.

In over 100 relief camps, mostly set up in various educational institutions in and around the affected areas, over 10,300 people have been housed.