All govt programmes postponed; Army's engineering group to reach Wayanad immediately

KALPETTA: Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said that in the wake of the landslide in Wayanad, all programmes of the state government have been postponed. All essential services will be brought to Wayanad. He informed that the army's engineering group would immediately reach Wayanad for rescue and related operations in the area where the landslide struck.

The chief minister said the army’s Madras Engineering Group will be coming from Bengaluru. In the wake of the bridge collapsing in the landslide, things including the alternative system will be implemented by the army’s engineering system. The decision was taken based on the talks held between Major General V T Mathews in
charge of Kerala and Karnataka with the revenue secretary.

The chief minister informed that directions have been given to deploy police drones and conduct search operations. Dog squad will also be a part of the rescue operations. The chief minister had earlier reached the office of the state disaster management authority to assess the situation.

In the wake of the tragedy, a special control room has started functioning at the Thiruvananthapuram police headquarters. The chief minister informed that the public can provide information to the 24-hour control room.

The control room works under the direct control of the state police chief. Can contact these numbers 9497900402, 0471 2721566. North Region IG and Kannur DIG will soon reach Wayanad to lead relief operations.

The state police chief has directed the law-and-order division ADGP to coordinate the rescue operations. He stated that the police personnel from four and five battalions of the Kerala Armed Police and the Malabar Special Police have left for Wayanad and the personnel who have received special training in disaster relief operations are among them.

The chief minister informed that a special police team has been entrusted for rescue operations in Malappuram. Necessary steps have been taken to forward the information received in the control room of the police headquarters to the search teams in the affected area. The chief minister added that adequate policemen have been deployed in the control room.