THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Kerala government will conduct two separate investigations into the tunnel project accident in Wayanad, including whether the company executing the project complied with the conditions of the environmental clearance granted by the central government, Chief Minister VD Satheesan said on Wednesday.
Speaking after a cabinet meeting, where the matter was reviewed following the landslide that killed three people and left five missing, Satheesan said the government had decided to examine reports on the accident and initiate technical and legal procedures to determine the circumstances that led to it.
"We have decided to evaluate the reports on the disaster and take technical and legal steps to investigate the circumstances that led to the accident," he said at a press conference here.
The work on the tunnel, which will connect Wayanad with Kozhikode, will restart only after all related investigations are completed, Satheesan said.
He said that there were reports that the landslide occurred above the construction site. "We will examine that too," he said.
He further said that the government will provide Rs 5 lakh as immediate financial assistance to the next of kin of those who were killed in the landslide and steps have been taken to send their bodies back to their home states.
Besides that, the government will bear the treatment costs of those injured in the incident, he said.
The three people who have been confirmed to have died in the incident are migrant workers -- Chandraban, an operator from Madhya Pradesh; Bikash Kumar, a civil foreman from Bihar; and Anmol, a worker from Jharkhand.
Seven persons injured in the incident were undergoing treatment at the Meppadi WIMS Hospital as of Tuesday night.
During his press conference, Satheesan also said that he was made fun of when he, as opposition leader, had urged for a serious environmental impact study before going ahead with the project as the area, which falls in the Western Ghats, is an ecologically sensitive region.
"I was called by the CPI(M) as being opposed to development," he claimed.
He further contended that a study conducted by the previous LDF government came to a finding that the project should not be implemented. Despite that, the state government insisted on going forward with the project by imposing several stringent conditions on it, he claimed.
"That is why I said, let us examine what happened," he said.
The state government, a day ago, had contended that it was a "man-made disaster" as the mud accumulated at the construction site had not been removed despite directions from the district administration and Public Works Department Minister PK Basheer.
The general manager of the construction company on Wednesday refuted the allegation and claimed that the landslide occurred much above the worksite.