With the clock ticking away with no success in fully evacuating Malayalis stranded in Srinagar following floods, Chief Minister Oommen Chandy has asked Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala to stay back in Delhi for two more days to coordinate the evacuation work.
Mr. Chandy, according to an official press note here on Friday, asked the officials concerned to keep a tight vigil till the all the Malayalis stranded in hotels in Srinagar were evacuated to safety. Mr. Chandy has been keeping in regular touch with the Home Minister on the evacuation effort. The government, he said, had floated a special relief fund to assist the flood victims of Jammu and Kashmir and appealed to all sections of people to contribute to the fund.
No food and waterMeanwhile, Mr. Chennithala told reporters in Delhi that the immediate challenge before the government was to provide food and water to the stranded people. One major hurdle that the authorities faced was that the local people were blocking boats and seizing relief supplies as they too were in deep misery. He had met Defence Minister Arun Jaitley and was assured of all assistance, including support from the Army, Mr. Chennithala said.
Mr. Chennithala said the State government had so far evacuated 233 Malayalis from Srinagar and opened a helpdesk at the Srinagar airport to assist the remaining persons. Its efforts to rescue the tourists from the State were being hampered by absence of sufficient information about those stranded in flood-hit areas.
The government decided to convene a meeting of tour operators so that similar situations did not recur.
The tour operators would be requested to keep the Home and Tourism Departments posted about the identity of tourists whom they took outside the State, Mr. Chennithala said.
