Cyclone Ockhi: Opposition slams govt for failing to come out with exact number of victims

The Congress-led UDF members, who showed a banner in the assembly showing the pictures of the missing fishermen, trooped to the well of the House and staged a walk out alleging the government had "failed" to come out with the exact number of persons killed and missing in the cyclone Ockhi even about two months after the disaster.

Lack of coordination among various government agencies had hit the rescue operations post cyclone, they charged.

It was the first session of the state assembly after the cyclone Ockhi hit the state shores on November 29 and 30 last year, in which over 70 people were killed and more than 100 missing.

The failure of the government machinery in taking note of the cyclone warning by the authorities and initiating necessary steps at appropriate time had aggravated the crisis and woes of people, the opposition alleged.

The authorities in Tamil Nadu and the Union Territory Lakshadweep had made adequate preparations to address the cyclone but the Kerala government had ignored the warnings and did not bother to alert local fishermen, the opposition said.

However, rejecting the charges, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said the the government had done everything "humanly possible" to address the situation immediately after getting the warning in this regard.

The allegations of the opposition was an attempt to politicise the calamity, he said.

The Chief Minister also sought the cooperation of the opposition parties for implementing various measures for the fishermen community.

Raising the issue in the zero hour, M Vincent(Cong) said the lack of coordination among various government agencies had hit the rescue operations post cyclone.

"Even now, the government is yet to provide the exact number of fishermen who were killed or those who have gone missing in the calamity," he said.

The Revenue and Fisheries Departments and the Latine Catholic Church were giving different figures, he said.

Describing the Ockhi as a 'man-made disaster', opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala said it had been proved that how an "inefficient" government had become a danger to the state and the people.

He also said the Chief Minister was trying to justify the government failure by giving technical reasons.

Chennithala also attacked the state Disaster Management Authority and demanded the revamp of the agency by including people with expertise and scientific knowledge.