Kerala rainfall: State revenue minister K Rajan warns against flood tourism

Pathanamthitta: State Revenue Minister K Rajan on Wednesday said that people should strictly avoid going to areas that are inundated or flooded as part of a growing trend of "flood tourism."

Speaking to reporters at Pathanamthitta, the minister said that the growing trend among people to visit areas which are flooded and trying to enter the waters there or catch fish are creating an additional burden on the authorities carrying out relief and rescue operations.

He gave the example of an elephant being stranded for hours in the Chalakudy river on Tuesday morning, news reports of which led to a large number of people arriving at that place and creating a problem for the local authorities.

He also warned that police would be used to remove such persons.

"Such activities in flooded areas would not be permitted at all and if necessary, police assistance would be sought to remove such persons," he said.

On evacuating people from disaster prone areas, he said that according to guidelines in the Orange book such people have to be mandatorily relocated.

Rajan said that the state government has taken all necessary steps, like setting up relief camps, so that there is no loss of life and people can comfortably wait out the rains.

He also said that there was no need to be concerned about the flood-prone low lying Kuttanad area of the state, but the authorities were monitoring the situation there.

Meanwhile, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) Wednesday withdrew the red alert issued in Kerala as the intensity of the rains reducted. The weather department, however, has issued 11 districts including Pathanamthitta, Alappuzha, Kottayam, Ernakulam, Idukki, Thrissur, Palakkad, Malappuram, Kozhikode, Wayanad and Kannur for Wednesday.

However, the storage level in Idukki reservoir reached 2375.52 feet and a blue alert was sounded at 10 AM.