Analysis | Repeating Landslide Disasters In Wayanad: Intriguing Occurrence Of July 7 Event In Kalladi Near Tunnel Portal
The Wayanad landslide has reignited concerns over the ecological risks of the controversial tunnel project in the fragile Western Ghats.
Published : July 15, 2026 at 9:22 PM IST
|Updated : July 15, 2026 at 10:04 PM IST
The fragile hills of Wayanad are once again in the news, this time due to yet another devastating landslide that struck on July 7, claiming eight lives and destroying significant property following a heavy downpour. What makes this particular event deeply intriguing —and alarming—is its precise location: near the entrance to the under-construction tunnel at Kalladi, Meppadi panchayat, in close vicinity to Chooralmala.
This very area was the epicentre of a disastrous, massive landslide in 2024 and has witnessed several other such calamities in the past, raising urgent questions about the cumulative impact of human intervention in one of India's most ecologically sensitive regions.
The Rs 2,000 crore tunnel project, which aims to provide an 8-km-long twin-tube tunnel link between Annakampoyil in the neighbouring Kozhikode district and Meppadi in Wayanad, has been embroiled in controversy ever since the idea was first mooted.
Environmentalists and geologists have consistently flagged it as a recipe for disaster, warning that the Western Ghats, with their fragile laterite soil and extreme rainfall patterns, are wholly unsuited for such large-scale subterranean excavation. Despite these persistent objections, the project was fast-tracked, with authorities prioritising connectivity and development over ecological caution.
In April this year, the Supreme Court, citing the project's "national importance," approved it while turning a blind eye to its massive environmental consequences. Whether in the Himalayas or the Great Nicobar or Kerala, this has now become a troubling "USP" for the authorities to greenlight controversial infrastructure projects, often at the expense of long-term ecological security and the safety of local communities.
The role of tunnel boring in triggering the debris slide in Kalladi needs to be confirmed after conducting a thorough geomorphological probe, yet the circumstantial evidence is deeply suggestive. The disaster seems to have originated from a mix of failures on the part of the authorities, including the failure of the company involved in boring to properly remove the dredged material—spoil that might have added significantly to the volume of the debris flow.
Security camera visuals reportedly indicate an avalanche-like flow of debris down the hillslope that was being bored, moving with terrifying speed and force. This strongly suggests that the boring process may have played a role in destabilising the upper reaches of the hill slope, weakening the geological fabric that had, until then, held the mountainside together.
The repeating pattern of disastrous landslides in Wayanad should have served as a wake-up call, prompting a meticulous review of the tunnel project's impact on the region's fragile ecology. Yet, alarmingly, the project was approved without conducting detailed geological and hydrological studies.
Considering the changing climate-rainfall regime—marked by more intense and erratic monsoon spells—and the increasing risk of landslides in areas like Wayanad, such projects in vulnerable stretches of the Western Ghats should be subject to strict guidelines and robust environmental safeguards. Instead, what we are witnessing is a pattern of regulatory short-cuts that prioritise speed and economic considerations over the safety of both people and the environment.
Tunnel construction disrupts hillsides in profound and often irreversible ways. The very act of boring weakens the rock-soil formation, creating new cracks and fractures where none existed before. With intense rainfall—a regular feature of Wayanad's climate—water can seep through these newly formed cracks, percolating deep into the slopes and triggering landslides.
As the tunnel crosses natural drainage channels, pore water pressure rises dramatically, soil cohesion weakens, and the foundations above it begin to shift. These "cracks" are not merely surface-level blemishes; they are surface manifestations of deep- seated subsurface instability that can culminate in catastrophic slope failures.
The 8.17-km-long tunnel passes through Environmentally Sensitive Areas (ESA) and highly vulnerable mountain zones of the Western Ghats, a region recognised globally for its biodiversity and ecological significance. Many experts have pointed out that key pre- construction studies on hydrology, groundwater aquifers, and local landslide hazards were either inadequate or entirely absent at the time of granting environmental clearances. A more comprehensive micro-level geological mapping is urgently needed before final clearances can be granted, yet the pace of construction seems to have already overtaken such due diligence.
This is not an isolated case. Another telling example is the landslide that occurred near the exit of the second tunnel on the Mumbai-Pune highway, which was widely attributed to instability during the contraction phase of the hillside, exacerbated by landslides following heavy rainfall.
Tunnel entrances, or "portals," are particularly vulnerable points because excavation removes underlying soil and rock—a process known as unloading. This fundamentally changes the natural stress distributions within the slope, reduces the "shear" strength—the rock's response to pressure—and destabilises groundwater flow patterns. The result is a hillside that is primed for failure, waiting only for the trigger of a heavy downpour.
In the case of Wayanad, the July 7 event near the Kalladi portal is not an anomaly but part of a disturbing continuum. The disaster should compel authorities to immediately halt all tunnelling activity until a comprehensive, independent investigation is conducted. The lives of the people of Wayanad and the integrity of the Western Ghats itself hang in the balance. Development at any cost is not development at all—it is a slow-motion catastrophe waiting to unfold, and the hills of Wayanad are speaking to us in the only language they have left: landslides.
(DISCLAIMER: The facts and opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer and do not reflect the views of ETV Bharat.)
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