Thiruvananthapuram: The Kerala government failed in preventing the 2018 floods, the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) said in its report that was tabled in the State Assembly on Thursday.
Picking holes in the State's disaster management system, the audit body said a flood hazard map, detailing the flood-prone areas, had not yet been made available.
The Idamalayar dam lacked the rule curve during the savage floods that wreaked havoc in Kerala in 2018, the CAG reported. A rule curve specifies the storage or empty space that has to be maintained in a reservoir during different times of the year.
The CAG also found that the rule curve for Idukki dam, created in 1983, was not reviewed until the flood waters inundated Kerala.
The report, 'Preparedness and Response to Floods in Kerala', pointed out that only six rain gauges were available for estimating rainfall in Periyar basin, where 32 were required. The State Emergency Operations Centre, meant to predict disasters and to head relief and rescue operations, could not be totally trusted, the report blamed.
The Opposition parties and several others have been accusing the State government for failing in handling the dams, which added to the severity of the flood. The CAG report, apparently, validated the criticism.
Other findings in the report
- Kerala did not update its water policy in accordance with the Central water policy.
- A master plan for water resource development was not formed. State river water authority was not set up.
- Legislation to demarcate flood plains was not passed.
- The State Disaster Management Authority's flood susceptibility map did not conform to criteria set by the Central Water Commission.
- The Civil Defence Institute at Thrissur did serve its purpose even after five years.
- Though volunteers were trained under the Apat Mitra project, kits for emergency rescue operations were not distributed to them during the 2018 and 2019 floods. The kits were distributed in 2019 December.
- Though the Central Water Commission had set up 275 flood prediction centres across the country before 2017, Kerala doesn't have even one of them. The State did not provide the necessary information for establishing such a centre.
- A project meant to provide real-time data on rain, stream-flow, etc, did not deliver even after five years.
- Basic infrastructure for communication between dam sites and government offices remained non-functional during and after the 2018 floods.
- The storage capacity of dams should be surveyed every five years. The survey, however, was not conducted in KSEB-maintained dams between 2011 and 2019. The last survey was conducted in Idukki in 2004, and Kakki reservoirs in 1999. The 2005-commissioned Banasura Sagar dam was never surveyed.
- No steps have been initiated to desilt the Aruvikkara dam though 43 per cent of the reservoir is filled with sludge.
- The constructions on Periyar banks increased 450 per cent between 1985 and 2015. The expanse of reservoirs was reduced by 17 per cent. Encroachments at Cheruthoni hampered the free flow of water.
- Even 20 years after the construction of the airport at Nedumbassery, a canal to divert water from Chengal Thodu (canal) to Periyar had not yet been constructed. The canal would have averted the threat of floods.
- Adequate dredging to increase the depth and width of Thottappally spillway was not carried out. The planting of more than 500 trees further reduced the spillway's capacity. This is one of the major reasons that flooded Alappuzha.
- Of the 7,124 reconstruction activities sanctioned to be carried out using disaster management funds, 18 per cent have not been completed even after two years and eight years (as of April, 2021).
