Leader of the Opposition V D Satheesan on Sunday criticised Revenue Minister K Rajan over his inspection of cracks reported in houses built for survivors of the Wayanad landslide, calling the exercise a 'drama' and questioned his expertise to check them. 

Speaking to the media, Satheesan said the minister’s actions amounted to theatrics. 

“The minister climbed onto a table and checked the cracks. What is that? It is all drama,” he said, also asking whether the minister was qualified to assess structural defects. 

“The minister is not the person to check faults in the houses. Is he an expert? Engineers should do that,” he said, also training his guns at Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, alleging that the houses were inaugurated before construction was completed. 

“Water, electricity and other essential facilities have not yet been provided,” he said, adding that the developments in Wayanad amounted to 'deceit'. 

“Nobody has lived in the houses inaugurated by the Chief Minister. It was all a gimmick ahead of the election,” he alleged. 

Revenue Minister Rajan had on Saturday inspected the houses built for survivors of the Mundakkai–Chooralmala landslide after complaints of cracks, and said the cracks were not structural, but merely superficial. However, controversy erupted after Noufal K T, a resident and landslide survivor who first raised the issue, claimed that the cracks were visible not only on the walls, but also on the main concrete layer. 

The controversy centres on the 178 houses constructed for survivors on Elstone Estate land near Kalpetta. Noufal further alleged that several construction issues existed in the houses, but many survivors were reluctant to speak out because of the trauma of having lost family members in the landslide.