Can Centre Declare Wayanad Landslides A ‘National Disaster’? Govt Sources Cite This UPA-Era Reply: Report

The clarification comes amid a demand from the Opposition camp, including former Wayanad MP Rahul Gandhi, to declare the Wayanad landslides tragedy as a "national disaster".

Wayanad Landslides: Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi has made a vehement demand to declare the Wayanad landslides a “national disaster”. But can the BJP-led Central government do this without violating rules and norms, even if it wanted to?

According to government sources, citing a 2013 reply in Parliament by a Congress-led UPA government minister, there is no concept of “national disaster” exists under the rules of the central government, PTI reported.

‘No such provision’

In his 2013 reply, then Minister of State For Home and Congress MP from Kerala Mullappally Ramachandran had told the Lok Sabha that “there is no provision to declare a natural disaster as a national disaster”.

Ramachandran had stated that the Government of India adjudges a calamity of severe nature on case-to-case basis, taking into account its intensity and magnitude, level of relief assistance, capacity of the state government to tackle the problem, and alternatives and flexibility available within the plan to provide succour and relief etc, the sources noted, according to PTI.

The then Congress minister had said the government prioritises immediate relief and response assistance in the context of a natural calamity, and as such there are no prescribed norms. However, for a calamity of “severe nature”, additional assistance is also considered from the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) after following the established procedure, he had said.

State govt primarily responsible for relief, rescue ops

Ramachandran, while replying to a question on whether the central government has fixed any norms for declaring a calamity of severe nature striking the country as a “national calamity”, had also stated in his reply that the state government concerned is primarily responsible for undertaking necessary rescue and relief measures in the wake of natural disasters.

The clarification comes amid a demand from the Opposition camp, including former Wayanad MP Rahul Gandhi, to declare the Wayanad landslide tragedy as a “national disaster”.

PM Modi to visit Wayanad

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to visit the landslide-hit Wayanad district in Kerala today to review the relief and rehabilitation efforts in the region. Reacting to the announcement of Modi’s visit to Wayanad, Rahul Gandhi Friday called it a “good decision” and expressed confidence that the prime minister will declared the Wayanad landslides a national disaster once he witnesses the aftermath of the devastation firsthand.

“Thank you, Modi ji, for visiting Wayanad to personally take stock of the terrible tragedy. This is a good decision,” the former Wayanad MP said in a post on X.

“I am confident that once the Prime Minister sees the extent of the devastation firsthand, he will declare it a national disaster,” he wrote.

(With PTI inputs)