Rahul Gandhi visits flood-affected areas in Wayanad

Rahul Gandhi takes stock of the situation in Kerala

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Monday visited Mepaddi and Puthumala areas to take stock of flood situation in Wayanad, which is his parliamentary constituency. He also met the District Collector AR Ajayakumar and discussed the situation which was arising out of floods and landslide which hit normal life.

Gandhi asked the District Collector to make efforts to recover the bodies of those who were missing in the landslide in Puthumala. "There is an issue where the landslide took place. Efforts are on to find out some people who are missing. We have told the administration to expedite efforts in this regard," he said. Gandhi also added that he had apprised Prime Minister Narendra Modi about the flooding and also sought support from the Centre in order to deal with the situation.

"There is a need for immediate support for the people who have been hit hard by landslide and floods. There is a need for compensation. They need to be rehabilitated. We also discussed the conditions at the (relief) camps. Some issues arose particularly compensation. We have committed that the people who lost family members and houses will get compensation as soon as possible."

He also termed the flood situation in Kerala as a tragedy. He said: "It is a tragedy not only for Wayanad but also for Kerala and other southern states. I think the Central government needs to pay attention and aggressively support the people of these states."

Until now, 76 people have lost their lives in the flood-ravaged state.

(with inputs from ANI)

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Edited by mid-day online desk with inputs from Agencies