C.P. Rajendran, geoscientist, has said that the a comprehensive probe is required to find out the causes of the debris slip at Kalladi near the Anakkampoyil-Kalladi-Meppadi tunnel road entrance in Wayanad earlier this month.

Mr. Rajendran, one of the members of the expert team appointed by the State government to look into the various circumstances that led to the disaster on July 7, 2026, was addressing the media after visiting the site on Thursday (July 23, 2026) afternoon. He was accompanied by other members of the team.

Mr. Rajendran said a hasty conclusion about the incident was not possible. He added that the team would examine in detail if unscientific construction works had been taken up in Kalladi. The team would visit the Anakkampoyil entrance of the tunnel road in Kozhikode on Friday (July 24, 2026).

P. Pugazhendi, Chief Wildlife Warden; Vishnudas, environmental scientist; Sarmistha Singh, hydrologist; Sreevalsa Kolathayar, civil engineering expert, National Institute of Technology-Karnataka; and Ankesh Kumar, engineering expert; and Madhu Karthik M., structural engineering expert, both from the Indian Institute of Technology-Palakkad, are the other members of the panel.

The team’s mandate includes finding the causes of the tragedy, evaluating the environmental approvals given for the tunnel road project by the Union and State governments, examining the approvals by the Ministry of Environment, Forest, and Climate Change, and also checking if the company engaged in construction had followed all the guidelines.

Published - July 23, 2026 07:40 pm IST