Congress President Sonia Gandhi is on a tour of flood and cloudburst hit areas of Uttarakhand on Tuesday where 60 people have died and thousands rendered homeless in the past few days.
Congress President and UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi on Tuesday undertook an aerial survey of the areas which were flooded due to incessant rains since last several days.
The UPA Chairperson, who arrived at Jolly Grant Airport around 0945 hours by a special plane, left for the aerial survey of the affected areas after a brief stay at the airport. She was accompanied by defence minister AK Antony.
Incessant rains have taken the lives of more than 60 people in the hilly state in last three days. As per state’s disaster management and mitigation centre, 163 people have been killed in rains alone in this monsoon season so far.
Reports suggest that more than 1500 roads are completely blocked whereas several bridges have also been washed away in the state. Sonia Gandhi may ask union government to assist state government after taking stock of the situation, say sources. Uttarakhand had demanded Rs 3500 crore from union government as compensation for the loss of infrastructure.
Meanwhile, Army has been deployed for undertaking relief work in Uttarakhand. About 199 personnel of National Disaster Relief Force have been also been deployed. More over, four choppers of Army have been asked to supply food, medicine and essential commodities in the areas that have been totally disconnected from the outer world.
Uttarakhand Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal also toured the state on Monday and asked officials to check the skyrocketing prices of the essential commodities.