Wayanad landslides: Kerala restricts scientific community from sharing opinion, studies with media

NEW DELHI: The Kerala government requested the state's scientific community on Thursday to refrain from sharing their opinions and study reports on the Wayanad landslides with the media.

Tiku Biswal, the state relief commissioner and principal secretary for disaster management, in an order directed all science and technology institutions in Kerala not to undertake field visits to the Meppadi panchayat in Wayanad, which has been designated a disaster-affected area.

In one of the worst disasters in the state's history, heavy rain-induced landslides claimed more than 290 lives in Wayanad.

Scientists from the state and beyond attributed the disaster to a deadly mix of forest cover loss, mining in the fragile terrain and climate change.

"You are requested to direct all science and technology institutions in the state of Kerala not to undertake any field visits to Meppadi panchayat, Wayanad, which is notified as a disaster-affected area," according to Biswal's order to KP Sudheer, principal secretary in the state's science and technology department.

"The scientific community shall be directed to restrain themselves from sharing their opinions and study reports to (the) media. If any study is to be undertaken in the disaster-affected area, prior permission shall be obtained from the Kerala State Disaster Management Authority," it said.