‘Welcoming arrival of Prime Minister; firmly believe Mundakkai will be declared national disaster’

KALPETTA: Minister Mohammad Riyas welcomed the arrival of Prime Minister to Wayanad on Saturday. He will understand the situation after seeing the place. The minister told a media that he firmly believes that Mundakkai will be declared a national disaster.

‘If people have anything to say about the search, the popular search is held to get their valuable suggestions. As part of the arrival of the Prime Minister, the search will end at 11 am tomorrow considering security and other considerations. The public search will resume on Sunday.

The army had done their best in Wayanad. We will do everything we can in the search operations. He said the decision on rehabilitation will be taken after taking the opinion of the disaster victims and political parties. The minister is also with the search team.

Meantime, IG Sethuraman responded that the disaster victims will not be part of the search directly. He told a media that the purpose of the rescue mission method is to educate the people and to clear the doubts of the victims.

Disaster victims will not engage in the search operations directly. Instead, he clarified that the places they point will be searched. The disaster area is divided into six. The chief minister had informed yesterday that the search will also be conducted including people staying in the relief camps and relatives' houses. The search is on its eleventh day. More than four hundred bodies have been found so far. Now there are 131 more people missing. Aerial search will continue in Chaliyar today.

Security has been beefed up in the district as Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit the disaster area tomorrow. A central team is coming to Wayanad today to assess the situation in the disaster affected areas. The team led by Union Home Minister's joint secretary Rajeev Kumar is arriving. The team will hold a discussion with the government representatives at 3:30 pm this evening.