PM Modi will conduct an aerial survey of affected areas…
On Wednesday, a source said, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to visit landslide-affected Wayanad in Kerala on August 10 (Saturday) and interact with the disaster survivors that hit the southern state last month.
The PM is scheduled to arrive on a special flight that will land in Kannur.
From Kannur, PM Modi will conduct an aerial survey of the landslide-affected areas by helicopter. He will then visit a few relief camps where over 10,000 people are sheltered.
Kerala Governor Arif Mohammad Khan and Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan are expected to accompany PM Modi after he arrives in Kannur.
The Vijayan-led state government and the Congress-led Opposition have been demanding the Central government to declare the disaster as a national calamity.
Meanwhile, the toll from the disaster on Wednesday reached 413.
152 people are still missing.
The announcement of PM Modi's visit came hours after Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi urged the Union government to declare the Wayanad landslide as a national disaster given the devastation it has left behind.
"I urge the Union government to support a comprehensive rehabilitation package for Wayanad. This package must include building disaster-resilient infrastructures to help the affected communities.
The Union government should also enhance the compensation that people receive.
Importantly, the Union government should declare the Wayanad landslide a national disaster," LoP Rahul Gandhi said while addressing the Lok Sabha.
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