Modi in Wayanad today. PM to review relief, rehabilitation works; interact with survivors

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit the landslide-hit Wayanad district in Kerala on Saturday to review the relief and rehabilitation efforts there and interact with survivors.

Modi will reach Kannur district around 11 am and then undertake an aerial survey of the landslides-affected area.

The teams that were involved in the rescue operations in the area will brief Modi about the evacuation efforts after the prime minister visits the locations impacted by the landslides.

Modi is also scheduled to visit relief camps and hospitals where survivors are being rehabilitated and interact with them.

The prime minister will then head to the Wayanad collectorate to chair a review meeting during which he will be briefed in detail about the incident and the ongoing relief efforts.

Meanwhile, a Central team visited the affected areas in Wayanad and assessed the extent of the damage.

The cabinet sub-committee of the Kerala government met with a central team and sought Rs 2,000 crore in assistance for rehabilitation and relief work in the disaster-stricken region. The team, led by Rajeev Kumar, who is a joint secretary with the ministry of home affairs, discussed the rescue operations, relief camps, autopsies, handing over of bodies to relatives of the deceased, funerals, the collection of DNA samples and the details of the missing people, with cabinet sub-committee.

On Friday, the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi expressed confidence that once Modi sees the extent of the devastation in Wayanad firsthand, he would declare the tragedy that struck the district a national disaster.

"Thank you, Modi ji, for visiting Wayanad to personally take stock of the terrible tragedy. This is a good decision," Gandhi said in a X post.