New Delhi/Thiruvananthapuram: On August 10, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to visit Wayanad, Kerala, which is devastated by landslides, and speak with those who have survived the tragedy that struck the southern state last month, a source said on Wednesday.
The Prime Minister is scheduled to arrive in Kannur on a special flight.
PM Modi will use a helicopter to survey the landslide-affected districts from Kannur. Then, he will visit a few aid camps that currently house over 10,000 people.
Upon his arrival in Kannur, PM Modi will be escorted by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and Kerala Governor Arif Mohammad Khan, a symbol of unity in the relief efforts for Wayanad.
Both the Congress-led opposition and the Vijayan-led state government have been pressing the federal government to label the catastrophe a national calamity.
Meanwhile, the toll from the disaster on Wednesday rose to 413, with 152 people still missing, underscoring the scale of the tragedy that has befallen Wayanad.
The news of PM Modi’s visit was revealed just hours after Rahul Gandhi, the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, requested the Union government on Wednesday to designate the Wayanad landslide a national catastrophe due to the destruction it has caused.
Addressing the Lok Sabha, LoP Rahul Gandhi emphasized the need for a comprehensive rehabilitation package for Wayanad. This package, he stressed, must include building disaster-resilient infrastructures to help the affected communities, and the Union government should declare the Wayanad landslide a national disaster.
He stated that the Union must provide a thorough assistance strategy to reconstruct Wayanad.
On August 1, Rahul Gandhi travelled to Chooralmala, which was devastated by a landslide in Kerala’s Wayanad district, accompanied by his sister, Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra.
–IANS
