The Congress MLA on Tuesday alleged that the LDF government was involved in corruption and deliberately delayed opening the shutters of the spillway during the 2018 floods that led to widespread damage in Kuttanad, the rice bowl of the state.
Mathew Kozhalnadan, a local MLA from Muvattupuzha in Ernakulam district, spoke at a press conference in which he released an audio recording purportedly of K. Krishnankutty, then the state’s electricity minister, confesses to a colleague that corruption and involvement with a local sand mining contractor were the reason behind the delay in opening the Thottapilli drainage canal, which led to the erosion of large areas of paddy fields and the displacement of thousands of people from Kuttanad.
In the phone recording, Krishnankutty allegedly told a party colleague that although one of the executive engineers recommended opening the spillway as the rains intensified, the government deliberately delayed it in order to protect the sand below the dam which had been released to a private player at a high cost.
“The LDF government has sacrificed countless lives and homes on the altar of corruption,” Kozalnadan said.
However, Krishnankutty denied that the voice was his own and said it might be driven by artificial intelligence. He added, “Such an allegation is made against the backdrop of the elections. It has political motives.”
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan also denied the allegations, pointing out that several expert committees had exposed such lies spread by the United Democratic Front. He added, “The desperate defeat in the upcoming elections prompted Congress to broadcast old lies.”
