NEW DELHI: Home minister
Rajnath Singh on Friday turned down the opposition's demand to order an inquiry into why, despite the availability of doppler radars and advanced meteorological infrastructure in the country,
Kerala and
Tamil Nadu did not receive advance warning about
Cyclone Ockhi, that killed over 300 people and left many more missing.
Responding to demands from the opposition benches that the government declare Cyclone Ockhi a national calamity and provide relief and rehabilitation accordingly, Singh told
Lok Sabha on Friday that Ockhi, even though it was "rare" and "serious", could not be declared a "national calamity" due to the laid-down protocol.
He said, however, that the government is treating it as a disaster of a severe nature.
Eighteen people were killed in Tamil Nadu and 74 in Kerala in the cyclone that hit the western coast on November 30.
Responding to questions raised by
Congress MP
Shashi Tharoor about why an advance warning could not be issued to Kerala, which faced the highest collateral damage, Singh said, "Because this was a rare cyclone, therefore, its information could not be given in advance...The doppler radars were operational in Kochi and Trivandrum and they issued a warning about the cyclone on November 30."
During the special discussion, Congress members also staged a walk-out alleging discrimination in providing central assistance to states hit by the cyclone.
