Blitz Bureau
NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi landed in Kalpetta after conducting an aerial survey over Chooralmala, Mundakkai, and Punchirimattom hamlets of Wayanad aboard an Indian Air Force helicopter on August 10. He was accompanied by Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and Governor Arif Mohammad Khan. Modi will review the relief and rehabilitation efforts.
PM Modi was accompanied on the trip from Delhi by Union Minister of State for Tourism, Suresh Gopi, the lone BJP candidate to win from Kerala. He was received at the airport by Kerala Governor Arif Mohammed Khan, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and top Central and state government officials.
Soon after that, PM Modi, along with others, left for Wayanad on a helicopter. At Wayanad, Modi visited patients at the hospitals and a few relief camps where over 10,700 people hit by the landslides are sheltered.
After that, Modi will chair a review meeting where Khan, Vijayan and other officials will take part. Following this, the Prime Minister will return to Kannur airport by around 3.30 p.m. and then depart for New Delhi.
PM Modi’s visit comes at a time when his Government took stock of the situation and immediately sprung into action through the deployment of more than 1,200 rescuers of NDRF, Army, Air Force, Navy, Fire services, Civil Defence, among others for rescue and relief operation.
More than 100 ambulances, along with doctors, and other medical staff were deployed for medical support and treatment.
The Indian Army erected a 190-foot Bailey bridge in Wayanad, which has been crucial in facilitating the movement of heavy machinery and ambulances. Remarkably, construction of this bridge was completed in just 71 hours, significantly enhancing the rescue operations by allowing heavy vehicles and machinery to be mobilised to rescue around 200 people who were stranded due to damage to the bridge.
