The Wire Staff 
New Delhi: Hours after the Kerala government issued a ‘gag order’ to the “scientific community” instructing them not to share their opinions or study reports with the media on the Wayanad landslide mishap, chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan directed officials concerned to withdraw the order.
Chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan announced on his official Facebook page that the state government does not have such a policy. He asked the chief secretary to ensure that the concerned officers withdraw the order immediately.
An hour or so after the CM’s statement, Kerala’s chief secretary clarified that the advisory “was not issued with an intent to restrain the scientific community of the state from conducting studies and providing insights” and was meant to “discourage statements and opinions by persons belonging to scientific institutions of the state, that may be misinterpreted or misquoted to create panic and confusion among the public, particularly during this sensitive time”.
“Although these are exceptions, a few such instances have come to light in the last two days,” Venu. V, chief secretary, said in a statement.
“We believe that there is great importance for scientific studies that can throw light on the challenges faced by the state in the context of climate change, and new knowledge can add to our understanding and shape our strategies,” the chief secretary added. However, “it is important that the immediate focus on rescue, recovery and rehabilitation is not lost and that widespread panic and paranoia are not generated on account of misinterpretation of statements or opinions made, detracting from the humanitarian work at hand.”
“As the note does not convey this accurately, it is being withdrawn with immediate effect,” the chief secretary said in the statement.
Earlier, the Kerala Secretariat’s Revenue and Disaster Management and Housing Department had issued a note, directing the scientific community to “restrain themselves from sharing their opinions and study reports to [the] media”.
The note, accessed by The Wire, also directed all science and technology institutions in Kerala to not undertake any field visits to Meppadi Panchayat, Wayanad, where the multiple landslides occurred on the morning of July 30. The area is “notified as a disaster-affected area”, the note read.
“If any study is to be undertaken in the disaster-affected area, prior permission shall be obtained from Kerala State Disaster Management Authority,” the note had said.
The order was signed by Tinku Biswal, who is the State Relief Commissioner and Principal Secretary, Disaster Management, to the Kerala government.
OnManorama reported Biswal as saying that the order was in keeping with disaster management protocols and that they discourage the movement of people other than rescue and relief personnel to and from the disaster site.
Regarding restricting scientists from commenting on the disaster or sharing their studies, Biswal told OnManorama that “various theories and counter-theories are being floated and that should not happen during a disaster”.
These “theories” affect people and “dampens the mood of the population”; the government doesn’t “want people to be distracted by theories”, OnManorama quoted her as saying.