Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan chose the right time and place to castigate India’s claim as a super power in the field of science and technology. Addressing the Independence Day parade at Thiruvananthapuram on Thursday, Vijayan said that the landslides and flood at Wayanad was caused by the poor weather forecast system of the Central Government establishments.
“We need specific and sharp weather forecast which gives us the exact time, place and intensity of rainfalls, landslides and earthquakes. The truth is that the country’s weather forecast system has no such capabilities,” said the chief minister.
Vijayan said that what Kerala was looking for was sharp forecast and not a generalized and vague reports as furnished by the Meteorological Department and other associated wings of the ministry of earth sciences. “Had they given the exact forecast, we would have been able to control the natural disaster to a great extent,” said the chief minister.
Home Minister Amit Shah had told Parliament that the State was given advance alerts about the impending disaster many days ahead of the July 30 nature’s fury. The Meteorological Department as well as the Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS), Hyderabad are always in the forefront in alerting all States in the country about the possibilities of tornadoes, heavy rainfall and sea attacks.
According to R S Sasikumar, chairman, Save University Campaign and a leading whistleblower in the State, Vijayan has some inherent issues with his way of thinking. “Though the Central agencies had warned about cyclones, heavy rains and tidal waves in the past, the CPI(M) led Government failed miserably to take preventive measures. We all saw how Vijayan was driven away from the coastal regions of the capital city by fishermen and homemakers when he visited the areas affected by Oakie, the tornado and rainfall in 2019,” said Sasikumar.
Vijayan said while addressing the Independence Day parade that the State government would soon install an advanced weather monitoring and forecast system so that it need not be at the mercy of the Center.
