Kerala Governor Arif Mohammed Khan on Sunday defended the central government’s position on the delay in releasing relief for the victims of the Wayanad landslides, stating that assistance would be provided once the state submits proper accounts to the Centre.
The ruling CPI-M-led LDF and the Opposition Congress-led UDF in Kerala called for a hartal in the Wayanad district on Tuesday
In the Wayanad Lok Sabha constituency, where Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra made her electoral debut, the polling percentage dropped significantly this time. The constituency recorded a lower voter turnout, with the figure at 64.53 per cent as of 6:40 pm on Wednesday.
Polling for the first phase of Jharkhand's assembly elections, the Wayanad parliamentary seat in Kerala, and bypolls in 33 assembly seats across 11 states is set to begin on Wednesday morning.
High political spirits and public turnout mark final hours
The rescue operations in landslide-affected four villages of Kerala's Wayanad entered the eighth day on Tuesday with the death toll reaching 402 and around 170 still missing.
The Kerala government approved numerous projects in Wayanad over the past four years, including those related to non-coal mining, without allegedly conducting a thorough study of the district's topography and geomorphology, according to sources at the Environment Ministry on Monday.
Meanwhile, the death toll in the devastating landslides in Wayanad rose to 396 as more bodies recovered from the debris.
Kerala Governor Arif Mohammed Khan, while calling for assistance for the landslide disaster in Wayanad, stated on Sunday that service to humanity is service to God.
The family, belonging to the Paniya tribe, had taken refuge in a cave atop a hill after being cut off from their community due to the devastating landslides that struck the region earlier this week.
