Narendra Modi Wayanad visit highlights: PM Modi meets landslide victims at relief camp

Narendra Modi Wayanad visit LIVE: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday evoked the harrowing memories of the 1979 Morbi dam disaster in Gujarat after he visited the landslide-devastated areas of Wayanad district, Kerala, offering empathy and assuring all possible support from the central government.

Narendra Modi Wayanad visit LIVE: Prime Minister Narendra Modi departed from Wayanad after meeting at the district collectorate in Kalpetta. The meeting was attended by the Chief Minister, Governor, Minister of State Gopi, state ministers, local MLAs, police officials, and top bureaucrats.

Narendra Modi Wayanad visit LIVE: Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his visit to the landslide-hit Wayanad said, “I have been taking information about the landslide since the time I got to know about the incident. All the agencies of the Central Govt who could have helped in the disaster were mobilised immediately. This disaster is not normal. The dreams of thousands of families have been shattered. I have seen the situation on the spot. I met the victims at relief camps who faced this disaster. I also met the injured patients in the hospital.”

Narendra Modi Wayanad visit LIVE: Prime Minister Narendra Modi departed from the landslide site after completing an aerial survey. He is now scheduled to visit the relief camp established at St. Joseph High School, where he will meet with survivors, including children who have lost both parents. The visit has been delayed by over 50 minutes due to the extended time spent on the aerial survey and at the Chooralmala site.

Narendra Modi Wayanad visit LIVE: Kerala Police ADGP (Law and Order) Ajith Kumar briefed PM Modi about the damage at Chooralmala. The PM was later seen walking through the affected areas on Chooralmala Government School Road, assessing the damage. He was accompanied by Suresh Gopi, Governor Arif Mohammed Khan, and Chief Secretary V Venu.

Narendra Modi Wayanad visit LIVE: PM Modi now seen advancing in convoy by road towards Chooralmala, one of the most affected settlements. He will interact with army and other rescue officials at the temporarily constructed Bailey bridge at Chooralmala.

Narendra Modi Wayanad visit LIVE: PM Narendra Modi conducted an aerial survey of Wayanad before visiting the disaster site on the ground. During the survey, he observed the origin of the landslide at Iruvazhinji Puzha (River) and assessed the worst-affected areas, including Punchirimattam, Mundakkai, and Chooralmala.

Narendra Modi Wayanad visit LIVE: PM Modi conducts an aerial survey of the landslide-affected region in Kerala's Wayanad. Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan was also present.

Narendra Modi Wayanad visit LIVE: Prime Minister Narendra Modi proceeded to Wayanad in an Air Force helicopter, accompanied by Governor Arif Mohammed Khan, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, and Union Minister of State for Petroleum Suresh Gopi.

Narendra Modi Wayanad visit LIVE: Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrives at Kannur Airport, received by Governor Arif Mohammed Khan and CM Pinarayi Vijayan. PM Modi will visit Wayanad to review relief and rehabilitation efforts.

Narendra Modi Wayanad visit LIVE: PM Narendra Modi arrives at Kannur airport to visit landslide-hit Wayanad

Narendra Modi Wayanad visit LIVE: In 2013, then Minister of State for Home and Congress MP from Kerala, Mullappally Ramachandran, informed the Lok Sabha that "there is no provision to declare a natural disaster as a national disaster." According to the sources, the reply explained that the Government of India evaluates each calamity on a case-by-case basis, considering factors such as its severity, the required relief assistance, the state's capacity to respond, and available alternatives for providing relief.

The focus, as stated, is on immediate relief and response. There are no fixed norms for declaring a disaster as national. However, for calamities of a "severe nature," additional assistance from the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) may be considered following the established procedure.

Narendra Modi Wayanad visit LIVE: Government sources on Saturday cited a 2013 Parliament response by a Congress-led UPA minister to clarify that the concept of a "national disaster" does not exist under central government rules. This clarification came in response to demands, including from Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi, to declare the landslide tragedy in Kerala's Wayanad as a national disaster.

Read in detail: Rahul Gandhi faces a UPA II hurdle in PM Modi declaring Wayanad as ‘national disaster’

Narendra Modi in Wayanad LIVE: Till now, a total of 30 persons have been rescued, 520 persons evacuated and 112 dead bodies retrieved by the NDRF rescue teams.

An Inter-Ministerial Central Team (IMCT) has been constituted by the Central Government to visit the affected areas of the State. The team is visiting the affected areas from August 8-10.

Narendra Modi in Wayanad LIVE: The Kerala High Court on Friday appointed an amicus curiae in the case of the recent devastating landslides that rocked the hilly Wayanad District and sought to see various environmental audit reports. A division bench comprising justices A K Jayasankaran Nambiar and V M Syam Kumar on Friday directed that the Geological Survey of India, the National Centre for Earth Science Studies, the Survey of India and the central government, represented by the Department of Science and Technology, among others, be arraigned in the matter.

Narendra Modi in Wayanad LIVE: The Kerala High Court on Friday dismissed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) challenging the collection of multiple funds in the name of the recent landslides in Wayanad. The court imposed a fine of ₹25,000 on the petitioner, C Shukoor, who is also a lawyer. A division bench comprising Justices A K Jayasankaran Nambiar and V M Syam Kumar ruled that there was no public interest in the petition. The court directed Shukoor to pay the fine towards the Chief Minister's Distress Relief Fund (CMDRF).

The PIL argued that there was no proper monitoring of the funds being collected by various organizations for the Wayanad disaster and expressed concern that these donations could be misused. The petitioner also sought the transfer of all such funds to the CMDRF. However, the court refused to entertain the petition, stating that there was no reason to doubt the intentions of those collecting the funds.

Narendra Modi in Wayanad LIVE: Following the recent devastating landslides in Kerala, which claimed over 200 lives, the Goa government has reactivated its high-level disaster management committee. Ground-level revenue officials have been tasked with reporting illegal hill cutting to prevent similar tragedies. Chief minister Pramod Sawant chaired a high-level meeting of the state disaster management committee on Friday at Porvorim. The meeting was attended by state revenue minister Atanasio Monserratte and other senior officials.

Narendra Modi in Wayanad LIVE: A cabinet sub-committee of Kerala government met with a central team visiting the area and sought ₹2,000 crore in assistance for rehabilitation and relief work in the disaster-stricken region.

Narendra Modi in Wayanad LIVE: A central team led by Union Home Department Joint Secretary and Inter-Ministerial Central Team Leader Rajeev Kumar visited the disaster-hit areas of Wayanad.

The central team visited Churalmala and Mundakai and returned after spending two hours at the disaster site. They spoke to local residents who survived the disaster. They also witnessed the severity of the disaster by walking along the road in front of the Vellarmala school to Patavettinum which was destroyed in the landslide.

Narendra Modi in Wayanad LIVE: Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi on Friday welcomed Prime Minister Narendra Modi's decision to visit landslide-hit Wayanad. He expressed confidence that after witnessing the devastation firsthand, the prime minister would declare it a national disaster.

"Thank you, Modi ji, for visiting Wayanad to personally take stock of the terrible tragedy. This is a good decision," Gandhi said in a post on X.