TMC MPs Saket Gokhale and Sushmita Dev Visit Landslide-Hit Wayanad

New Delhi [India], August 3: All India Trinamool Congress (TMC) Rajya Sabha MP Saket Gokhale and TMC MP Sushmita Dev visited landslide-hit Wayanad on the direction of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday. Gokhale stated that the human tragedy in Wayanad has been devastating and heartbreaking.

Taking to X, MP Saket Gokhale said, “My colleague Sushmita Dev AITC & I are in Wayanad, Kerala, this morning on directions of our Chairperson Mamata Banerjee. The human tragedy in Wayanad has been devastating & heartbreaking. We’re here to meet the affected families & let them know that we & Bengal are with them.”

Congress MP Shashi Tharoor called for an active policy framework on disaster response and mitigation and asserted that long-term responses from the government are needed to rehabilitate the people affected by the natural disaster. Tharoor said, “Food and so on, is plentifully available in Wayanad but we were able to bring some mattresses, soft, spongy things that you can spread out on the floor and lie on to help people. But all of these are just urgent, immediate responses. We have to think in terms of the longer term as well. For example, the relief camps are all in schools, but the schools have to reopen. Children have to go back to school and study. So we need to get them out into longer-term residential arrangements, such as rented homes or hostels. And the government has to take a role and then we’re all helping. Then we have to build homes for them for the longer term.”

The death toll in the massive landslides that occurred on July 30 in Chooralmala and Mundakkai of Wayanad stands at 308 as of Friday, Kerala Health Minister Veena George said. As per the latest update, 215 bodies and 143 body parts were recovered, including 98 males, 87 females and 30 children. The post-mortem procedures were completed on 212 bodies and 140 body parts and 148 bodies have been identified by relatives so far.