Kerala High Court on Wayanad Landslide: The Kerala High Court has made a big comment on the death of more than 300 people in the landslide in Wayanad district of Kerala. The Kerala High Court said that this is another example of nature’s response to human “indifference and greed”.
The High Court said that the warning signs were visible long ago but we chose to ignore them to pursue a development agenda that would have potentially put our state on the high road to economic prosperity. Natural disasters in 2018 and 2019, a global pandemic for almost two years and the recent landslides have shown that our methods are flawed.
“If you don’t mend your ways it will be too late”
“If we do not mend our ways and take positive steps to tackle this problem, it may be too late,” a bench of Justices A K Jayasankaran Nambiar and Shyam Kumar V M said while hearing a petition on the matter, which was taken up suo motu by the court after the landslides on July 30.
The court will review policies to deal with disasters
Three villages in Wayanad were completely destroyed by several landslides and 119 people are still missing. In its order dated August 23, the bench said that the court had taken suo motu cognizance of the matter and started hearing the PIL to persuade the state government to introspect on the prevailing notions and reconsider the policy for sustainable development in Kerala.
What other instructions did the Kerala High Court give? Know
The bench further said that the court will review the existing policies of the state regarding exploitation of natural resources, conservation of environment, forests and wildlife, prevention, management and mitigation of natural disasters and sustainable development goals. The High Court directed that the state must study the impact assessment on the environment and hold adequate public meetings to know the views of the persons or residents of the concerned area.
The High Court has also directed the Central and Kerala governments to file affidavits clarifying what steps have been taken to deal with these disasters and whether they propose to increase the number of subject experts mandated under the Disaster Management Act (DMA) 2005 in view of the natural disasters that have occurred in the state. The court has given them three weeks’ time to file the affidavits.
