Why Kerala called Wayanad landslide man-made, not natural disaster

The scenic tourist hub of Wayanad is no stranger to natural disasters. The mountainous Kerala district has witnessed four major landslides over the past two decades, including the catastrophic series of landslides in 2024 that left over 300 dead and wiped out hamlets overnight. However, the landslide that struck at Kalladi near a tunnel road construction site was called a "man-made" disaster by the Kerala government. Not a natural one.

Wayanad, an ecologically fragile region, has been pounded by heavy rain for the past few days. Just 24 hours before the landslide, Wayanad received around 265 mm of rain - the highest recorded this season. On Tuesday, amid incessant rain, the soil near the construction site of the Kozhikode-Wayanad tunnel project gave in. A huge mass of mud and debris came cascading down the hillside, trapping workers and killing three. Around 10 people have been rescued.

WERE WARNINGS IGNORED?

The Kerala government was quick to term the landslide a "man-made" disaster, blaming the construction firm behind the Anakkampoyil-Kalladi-Meppadi twin tunnel project. Better known as the Wayanad tunnel project, it was a much-hyped project of the previous Pinarayi Vijayan-led Left government.

The project is being executed by Konkan Railway Corporation Ltd for Rs 2,134 crore. Bhopal-based Dilip Buildcon had bagged the tunnel work tender. After several legal hurdles, construction of the 8.17-km twin-tube tunnel started in March this year.

Environmentalists had opposed the project, which will cut through the ecologically sensitive Western Ghats. They pointed out that the project was close to areas devastated by landslides in 2019 and 2024. Experts also flagged that the earth in the Kalladi region was loose.

The Wayanad Prakrithi Samrakshana Samithi (WPSS) was the biggest critic of the project. In its plea before the Supreme Court, it argued that the proposed tunnel would pass directly through the Chooralmala-Mundakkai range. The area receives some of the highest monsoon rainfall in South India. This same region was wrecked by a spate of landslides in 2024. This would make underground rock blasting for a tunnel highly risky.

However, the project received a go-ahead from the Supreme Court. Earlier this year, a CJI-led bench rejected a plea challenging the environmental clearance (EC) granted to the project, calling it a "lifeline" for Kerala. In fact, the key aim of the project was to provide all-weather connectivity while reducing travel time between Kozhikode and Wayanad by 45-60 minutes.

A preliminary probe has indicated that the soil excavated for the tunnel construction was piled on one side of the site. Following heavy rain, this was washed downhill, causing the landslide. In several places, the debris piled up to around 10 to 20 feet.

Amid the heavy downpour, the tunnel work was suspended since Monday. It avoided a bigger disaster.

WHY KERALA GOVT CALLED IT MAN-MADE LANDSLIDE

Kerala Agriculture Minister T Siddique said the Konkan Railway Corporation was directed by the district administration and the disaster management authority on June 20 to remove the excavated soil. Siddique said the soil was dumped haphazardly at the tunnel construction site.

"This is not a natural landslide. This is a man-made landslide. This occurred due to an unscientific way of accumulating mud there," Siddique told reporters.

"The Konkan Railway authorities were told to remove this debris. But it was not done," he further said.

Kerala Chief Minister VD Satheesan also held the project contractor liable for the landslide. In a post on X, Satheesan said repeated warnings to the contractor went unheeded.

"The contractor failed to comply with the directions issued by the SDMA, the district collector, and the PWD minister. The issue was not the yellow alert... but the failure to remove the soil," he said.

However, Dilip Buildcon, which is carrying out the tunnel construction work, offered a different assessment. It shifted blame to the unusually heavy rain and Wayanad's vulnerability to monsoon-induced landslides.

In a statement, it said the incident occurred amid exceptionally heavy rainfall. "This is 9-10 times the rainfall of an average July rainy day, and also well over one-third of Kerala's average July rainfall occurring within just 24 hours," Dilip Buildcon said.

Rejecting the Kerala government's "man-made" disaster charge, it pointed towards the project's strict regulatory oversight. It argued that the project was being supervised by a Supreme Court-appointed central empowered committee (CEC).

"Given its location in an ecologically sensitive region, the project is subject to multiple regulatory oversight and monitoring mechanisms... All excavated material is handled in accordance with the approved methodology," it said.

"With such additional and strict compliance procedures, the room for technical error remains very limited," the contractor stated.

As has been the case with previous landslides in Kerala, a blame game is nothing new. The central question of accountability, however, remains unanswered despite 24 hours having passed since the tragedy. Beyond the claims and counterclaims, lies the human cost - families and businesses who bear the brunt of the consequences.

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