ON August 7, 2024 a delegation of the All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) and the Kerala Karshaka Sangham (KKS – Kerala unit of AIKS) visited Chooralmala, the site of the devastating landslide in Wayanad, Kerala, which took place on the night of July 29/30.

A KKS relief team had, of course, visited the spot immediately after the landslide on July 30, and volunteers of the KKS and also various other mass fronts have been helping in the rescue and relief work round the clock. We met a number of DYFI and AIKS volunteers who have been constantly engaged in this work in the landslide-affected area. All state government departments and agencies, personnel of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), the state police and the army have been pressed into service, and they have done well.  

Hundreds of people were killed, many are missing, many are injured, and houses, shops, vehicles, farms, and plantations worth crores of rupees have been destroyed in this terrible human tragedy. Sudden and exceptionally severe rain was the cause of this catastrophe.

The AIKS delegation could personally see the heart-rending damage that the landslide has caused. We could see for ourselves the hill far away, from where the flood-induced landslide began at the dead of night, devastating the people who were fast asleep. We saw the remains of the hundreds of houses, shops and vehicles that were completely destroyed by the fury of the landslide. One major bridge over the small village river was completely washed away, and the army engineers and soldiers had constructed a temporary bridge in its place.

The survivors have been lodged in relief camps in Wayanad district. Much as we had wished, we could not meet the survivors and console them due to health protocols that were in place.

The AIKS delegation called upon all political forces to rise above their narrow, selfish and petty politics in the face of this unprecedented human tragedy and bend all their efforts and energies to the work of rescue, relief and rehabilitation. This was in the context of the false, irresponsible and derogatory statements against the LDF government that were made by the union home minister Amit Shah, and the union environment minister Bhupender Yadav. 

The AIKS delegation demanded that the central government, which has constantly been discriminating against, and vindictively targeting the LDF government of Kerala, must declare this as a national disaster and immediately release special funds for relief and rehabilitation.

The AIKS delegation came back to Kalpetta, the district centre of Wayanad, and met three state ministers in the district collectorate. They were ministers of revenue, PWD, and SC/ST welfare K Rajan, Muhammad Riyas and O R Kelu respectively. The ministers assured employment and income generation components in the agriculture, plantation, and production sectors as part of the rehabilitation project for Wayanad.

The AIKS-KKS delegation comprised AIKS president Ashok Dhawale, general secretary Vijoo Krishnan, finance secretary P Krishnaprasad, KKS general secretary Valsan Panoli, vice president M Mehaboob, joint secretary P K Suresh, state committee member K J Joseph, Wayanad district president A V Jayan, and Wayanad district secretary C G Prathyush. CPI(M) Wayanad district secretary P Gagarin also accompanied the delegation.

On August 9, 2024, leaders of the AIKS and the KKS handed over a cheque of one crore rupees to Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan at his office in Thiruvananthapuram towards the Chief Minister's Distress Relief Fund for Wayanad Landslide Relief and Rehabilitation. Over 27,000 of the KKS primary units across the state of Kerala collected an amount of one crore rupees from the people in their villages and towns.

The AIKS has already contributed five lakh rupees to the Chief Minister’s Distress Relief Fund (CMDRF) and has given an all India Wayanad relief fund call for August 10. The Tamilnadu Vivasayigal Sangham (AIKS) has contributed one lakh rupees towards this relief fund. 

AIKS and KKS leadership handed over the cheque to the chief minister.