Wayanad landslide: Medha Patkar visits affected areas, demands bank loan waiver

Meppadi (Wayanad): Environmental-social activist Medha Patkar has demanded waiver of bank loans taken by people affected by the devastating landslides in Chooralmala and Mundakai in Kerala’s Wayanad district. She highlighted that banks have already waived huge amounts of defaulted loans given by companies.

Medha, a popular leader of the Narmada Bachao Andolan, while visiting the disaster-affected areas along with Manorama on Saturday, also said that reconstruction activities in Wayanad should be based on the principles of sustainable development that protects nature as well as well-being. being of people. .

“Plans to rebuild disaster-affected areas must consider people’s livelihoods, including tourism,” she said. Climate change and global warming are among the reasons for the recent Wayanad tragedy. Excessive rains and steep topography of the region also led to the disaster, Medha added. “Therefore, any reconstruction effort must also consider environmental factors. When development focuses only on economic aspects and ignores nature, it can be disastrous,” she said.

Medha reached Chooralmala along with the team from Manorama and noted environmentalist CR Neelakandan. She crossed the Bailey Bridge and looked at the damaged homes and school buildings. Later she also visited Mundakai. A large number of people were waiting for Medha at these places and also at Meppadi. Some women cried, holding Medha’s hands and saying they would not be able to repay the loans. Medha told them to launch a fight for loan waiver as the government would only take a favorable decision when women demanded their rights.

Referring to the situation in other areas, Medha said similar disasters were also occurring in the states of Maharashtra and the Himalayas. “You cannot change the laws of nature. The main reason for natural disasters is human environmental intervention when climate change occurs. Difficult decisions are needed to prevent the recurrence of such tragedies, as we also need to consider the survival of future generations,” she said.

Pointing out that women suffer the most in any disaster, Medha said that while huge amounts are spent by the government on activities like road development, only meager sums are allocated for the rehabilitation of people affected by tragedies.

Medha also said that incidents like the Wayanad tragedy underline the fact that scientific studies on the Western Ghats, like the Madhav Gadgil committee report, cannot be ignored.