An inquiry report submitted by the Revenue Department on the landslip at Pettimudy has stated that further investigation is needed to find whether there was any lapse on the part of Kannan Devan Hills Plantations (KDHP) Ltd. in timely informing the incident to the authorities concerned.
District Collector H. Dinesan had constituted a 12-member special team to analyse the damage and recommend steps to rehabilitate the surviving families. The team, headed by Munnar special tahsildar Binu Joseph, submitted the report last week.
The district administration is working on a rehabilitation plan for the surviving families. A compensation package of ₹5 lakh each by the State government and the parent company, and ₹3 lakh by the Tamil Nadu government had already been announced.
The report said there was information that the company official (field officer) was informed of the landslip within an hour. It is learned that the Rajamala manager’s bungalow has a system to report the incident to the outside world.
The Pettimudy area under Devikulam taluk was isolated from the first week of August due to heavy rain. From August 2, power connection was disrupted there. Due to the absence of battery or inverter system in the mobile tower in the region, the network was disrupted, the report said.
The news of the tragedy, which occurred around 10.30 p.m. on August 6, came out after a survivor reported it to the forest check post at Eravikulam National Park (ENP) the next day morning.
The information of the tragedy was passed on from there and the rescue team reached by 11 a.m. Four estate lanes were completely buried under the debris and 66 bodies were recovered, with four still missing.
Mr. Dinesan told The Hindu on Tuesday that it was informed by the company that there was landline connection available at a bungalow near the tragedy site. He said that various aspects could be considered as the communication network was re-established only by using the help of Ham Radio and recharging the mobile tower by 11 a.m.
The autopsy report is also there and it could be ascertained whether valuable time was lost in between the tragedy and passing of the message. There was a public sentiment that the delay in passing the message from Pettimudy resulted in the delayed rescue operations.
Meanwhile, the KDHP said there was no delay in giving information to the officials. The BSNL tower was not working and as soon as the information was received from Pettimudy, it was given to the officials.
On August 6, Pettimudy was affected by unprecedented torrential rain which led to several landslips and roadblocks. There was only one exit from Pettimudy and water was overflowing the bridge due to which it could not be crossed at night, the report said.