Blame game begins in Kerala, Congress says state govt ‘solely responsible' for floods

Thiruvananthapuram, Aug 22: Political blame game has begun in flood-hit Kerala with Congress on Wednesday (August 22) saying that the Pirayi Vijayan-led government is "solely responsible" for the devastation as the sluice gates of all 34 dams were opened without giving proper information.

Training its guns on the Left-led state government, leader of opposition in Kerala assembly Ramesh Chennithala demanded a judicial probe into the circumstances that led to opening of shutters of 40-odd dams at a time in the state.

"They opened gates of all 34 dams without giving proper information to people.This is a man-made disaster not a natural calamity, that is why the Opposition is asking for a judicial inquiry. State government is solely responsible for this," Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala told news agency ANI.

BJP state president PS Sreedharan Pillai also blamed the Pinarayi Vijayan government for the deluge and said there was "lack of foresight" on part of the state.

However, Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) chairman KP Sreedharan Nair denied the allegations, saying there was no lapse on part of the board which owns the dams and that they were opened only after enough alerts were issued.

There is no point in blaming the board for opening the dams as most of the rivers were overflowing due to heavy rains, he said.

Terming the charges as "baseless," dam safety chairman C N Ramachandran Nair said, "Everyone knows water was rising in the reservoirs and rivers were in spate. Now the allegations are being levelled only for the sake of blaming somebody".

OneIndia News with PTI inputs