Kerala HC asks govt to ensure timely ex gratia for Wayanad landslide victims

Kochi, Jul 10 (PTI) The Kerala High Court on Friday directed the state government to ensure that ex gratia amounts are paid on time to the next of kin of those who died in the latest Wayanad landslide, as well as to those injured in the incident. The direction was issued by a bench of Justices A K Jayasankaran Nambiar and Preeta A K, which sought a report from the government on when work at the construction site was stopped and why workers were present there if all activity had been put on hold. The directions were issued by the bench in a petition initiated by the High Court on its own in 2024, following the landslides in Mundakkai and Chooralmala villages in Wayanad district in July that year, in which more than 200 people were killed. The petition concerns the prevention and management of natural disasters in Kerala. Besides directing the quick disbursal of the payable ex gratia amounts, the bench asked the government to ensure that the bodies of the deceased are handed over to their families without undue delay. The court said that, for the time being, the ex gratia payments and the treatment costs of the injured could be charged to the account of the tunnel project. “We can decide later from whom the amount should be recovered,” it added. The government, represented by Advocate General Jaju Babu, told the bench that cadaver dogs had been unable to locate the bodies because of the muck and slush in the area, and therefore human labour was being used to search for those missing. The advocate general submitted a report before the court stating that, except for external work, all other activities at the site had been ordered to stop under an order issued on May 25. Subsequently, on July 5, all work at the site was ordered to be stopped, he said. The report contended that this “timely intervention” had reduced the number of fatalities. “If the work had not been stopped on the directions of the District Disaster Management Authority, Wayanad, on July 5, in view of the current spell of heavy rainfall, the number of fatalities would have been several times higher,” the government said in the report. “Then what were the workers doing at the worksite?” the bench asked, and sought a response by the next date of hearing. The report stated that repeated directions had been issued to Konkan Railway, the project implementing agency, to remove the excavated mud from the worksite to prevent it from posing a risk to life and property. On Friday, the death toll in the landslide rose to seven after another body was recovered from the disaster site. A landslide occurred on July 7 at the site of the Anakkompoyil-Meppadi tunnel project, which is intended to connect Wayanad and Kozhikode districts. PTI HMP SSK