Three ex-Ministers demand judicial probe into Kerala floods

Three former Water Resources Ministers in Kerala on Tuesday asked the government to order a judicial probe into the floods that ravaged the state, saying it was a man-made disaster.

The three include Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan of the Congress, P.J. Joseph (Kerala Congress-Mani) and Kollam Lok Sabha member N.K. Premachandran of the RSP.

The demand for a judicial probe comes at a time when the Kerala High Court is looking into a public interest petition which says that the floods were a man-made disaster caused due to callousness of officials and the way the dam waters was handled.

Premachandran told the media that the Dam Safety Authority and the Kerala State Disaster Management Authority (KSDMA) did not apply their mind.

"The Facebook post of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan is enough to prove that the entire dam water management policy of his government was an abject failure," he said.

Radhakrishnan said they were not playing politics and wanted to ensure that such a disaster never happens again.

The floods, the worst to hit the state in a century, have caused damage of Rs 30,000 crore.

--IANS

sg/mr