Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Tuesday slammed Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav for blaming the state's policies for the landslides in Wayanad, terming it as "false allegations".
Vijayan also accused the Union Minister of humiliating those who died in landslides through his statements made a day ago.
Yadav on Monday said that the Kerala government allowed "illegal human habitat expansion and mining" in the state's ecologically fragile region, leading to the devastating landslides in the Wayanad district.
He had also criticised the state government for "neglecting" crucial environmental factors such as soil topography, rock conditions, geomorphology, mountain slopes, and vegetation structure while permitting human habitations.
"An episode of extreme rain led to the incident," he added.
Slamming Yadav's statements, Vijayan, at a press conference here, said that no one with the slightest knowledge and understanding about Kerala's hilly region would term the people living there as illegal migrants.
He also said that Yadav's statements prove right the news reports which claim that the Press Information Bureau and the Centre were trying to mobilise people, including scientists, against the Kerala government.