Kerala, Wayanad landslides LIVE updates: rescue operations to continue; death toll crosses 200

The Centre and Kerala crossed swords on Wednesday over advance weather warnings for the State and the disaster response in the wake of the catastrophic landslide that claimed over 200 lives and levelled three villages in Vythithiri taluk of Wayanad district a day earlier.

In Parliament, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said the Kerala government did not gauge the severity of the situation accurately despite the Centre despatching nine National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) teams to the State on July 23. “Had those blaming the [Central] government read the warnings, the situation would have been different,” he said.

In Kerala, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan took issue with Mr. Shah’s statement, asserting that the Centre dispatched the NDRF teams at the State government’s behest, given the intensifying monsoon, and not on its own volition. The State government moved an NDRF unit to Wayanad well in advance, he said. 

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