Tharoor 'unhappy' with Kerala govt's tackling of Cyclone Ockhi

Thiruvananthapuram (Kerala) [India], December 8 (ANI): Senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Friday voiced disappointment over the way measures were not taken by the Kerala government to mitigate the havoc caused by Cyclone Ockhi.

"I'm very very unhappy about the way in which the necessary preventive actions to save lives and warn fishermen to not to go out to sea were not taken," Tharoor told media, after attending an all party meeting held at Kerala Chief Minister's office to discuss issues related to the cyclone.

Referring to the meeting, he said that the leader of the opposition raised the point that the government cannot be allowed to evade the "responsibilities for having failed to take the necessary preventive measures to issue the warnings that apparently were issued next door in the state of Tamil Nadu and certainly were issued the next day in Lakshadweep where no casualties, no fragilities have occurred."

"On the other hand, here we have lost already 38 people and still a couple of 100 are missing and may never come back," Tharoor added.

At this hour, the Congress leader said the focus was on the relief measures available, and added that all the parties were "united in demanding some special assistance from the central government."

To this end, state's Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan is on his way to Delhi tonight, Tharoor informed. (ANI)

This story has not been edited. It has been published as provided by ANI