Shirur landslide: Kerala leaders' presence increases pressure on rescue personnel in Uttara Kannada’s Ankola

The local officials said that the Karnataka government was being put under enormous pressure to rescue Arjun, the truck driver from Kerala, the last GPS location of whose vehicle has been traced to the accident site.

Ankola: Adverse weather conditions continue to hamper the rescue operations at Shirur village, which witnessed a massive landslide on July 16 resulting in the death of at least eight persons and three others went missing, in Uttara Kannada’s Ankola taluk.

What has added to the pressure, according to the district in-charge minister, MLA and officials involved in the rescue operations, is the presence of Kerala Minister and MLAs.

Minister Mankal Vaidya said that elected representatives from Kerala have been insisting on taking up operations as per their wish.

According to local officials, there is an undue pressure on the Karnataka government to rescue a Kerala-based truck driver Arjun, whose truck’s last GPS location was tracked to the accident location.

On Friday, Kerala PWD Minister P A Mohammed Riyas visited the landslide spot and enquired about the operations being carried out by the district administration. Three MLAs have been camping in Ankola for the last four-six days.

Sources in the district administration told DH that politicians' intervention had affected the rescue operations for a few days. “Initially we had deployed 60 per cent of our human resources and machines for search operations in the river and 40 per cent on land. However, after the Kerala government accused the Karnataka government of not speeding up the rescue operation and claiming that the GPS location pointed to the presence of a truck on the road, we diverted 80 per cent of human resources to land and 20 per cent to the river. The morale of rescue personnel was also affected as questions were being asked about their work,” said a senior official.

Noida-based private company through its advanced radars and search machines have pointed out that there is a high possibility that Arjun’s truck could be stuck 60 meters away from the National Highway and 20 meters below with five to six meters of debris on it and Gangavalli river that is flowing above the danger mark.

Uttara Kannada Deputy Commissioner K Lakshmi Priya said, "After the Kerala government gave “evidence” of Arjun’s truck (GPS location and mobile phone ringing) even we were hopeful of saving him. We are making all efforts search for the four missing persons including Arjun. The adverse climate and overflowing river are making things difficult. We can't risk the lives of hundreds of rescuers.”

She says Indian Navy has given permission to deploy their expert divers. However, at present it's not safe for divers to venture river. "We will not buckle to any pressure as the safety of rescuers is our top priority now," she says.

Police have let off a Malayalam news channel with a warning after their crew members ventured into a protected forest area without permission and flew drones near the rescue operation sites to get exclusive visuals of operations when highly sensitive machines were deployed by army personnel to trace the survivors.

Minister Mankal Vaidya said, “I am not saying their presence is wrong. They can exert pressure on Karnataka only if we are not doing anything. Contrary, we have taken up rescue work beyond their expectation level. On humanitarian grounds for us, all the missing persons are the same.”

Repeated attempts to reach Manjeshwar MLA A K M Ashraf, who has been on the spot for the last six days failed to solicit any response.