According to a source on Wednesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Wayanad in Kerala on August 10, Saturday, reaching out to survivors of the landslide disaster that hit the southern state last month.
The Prime Minister will reach Kannur in a special flight. From there, he will take a helicopter to visit the places where the landslides have occurred in the state and then go to some of the relief camps where over 10,000 people who were displaced from their homes are housed.
Kerala Governor Arif Mohammad Khan and Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan are expected to join PM Modi on his arrival in Kannur.
The Vijayan government and the opposition Congress have been pressing for the central government to declare this disaster a national calamity.
Wednesday's toll has taken the total number of deaths to 413, while the number of people still missing is 152.
The visit was announced within days after Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi asked the Union government to declare the Wayanad landslide as a national disaster because of its severe impact.
In the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi demanded an all-inclusive rehabilitation package for Wayanad with disaster-resilient infrastructure and greater compensation to the affected people. He insisted that Centre announce it as a national disaster.
Rahul Gandhi and Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra visited Chooralmala in Wayanad on August 1 to see for themselves the damage caused by the landslide.
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