Wayanad: While Wayanad awaits Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s arrival on Saturday to personally inspect the damage caused by the July 30 landslide that resulted in 416 fatalities and over 150 missing, the Kerala government is set to submit a memorandum to him requesting a Rs 2,000 crore package from the Central government.
Wayanad and the state are eagerly awaiting PM Modi’s visit, according to Kerala Tourism Minister PA Mohammed Riyas. Riyas is leading the rescue and relief efforts in the affected districts. He stated on Saturday that it is imperative to designate the landslides as a national disaster.
After landing at Kannur airport, Prime Minister Modi will board a helicopter to conduct an aerial survey of the four devastated villages.
Subsequently, the Prime Minister will attend hospitalised patients and stop by a couple of relief camps that have taken in over 10,700 landslide victims.
Thereafter, PM Modi will preside over a review meeting that is expected to be attended by key state and federal officials, Governor Arif Mohammed Khan, and Kerala’s Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.
The PM is anticipated to return to the Kannur airport and fly to New Delhi by about three o’clock in the afternoon.
The Kerala government presented on Friday the need for a central package of Rs 1,200 crore to compensate for the expected damages resulting from the landslides and subsequent floods and a further Rs 800 crore for various other rehabilitation-related operations.
Regarding the necessity of declaring the Wayanad tragedy a national calamity, CM Vijayan has written to PM Modi.
One of the other main demands that CM Vijayan has made is financial assistance from the Center to build a new township as part of the rehabilitation program for natural disaster survivors.
Former Wayanad MP and Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, took to social media and wrote, “Thank you, Modi ji, for visiting Wayanad to take stock of the terrible tragedy personally. This is a good decision. I am confident that once the Prime Minister sees the extent of the devastation first-hand, he will declare it a national disaster.”
–IANS
