Wayanad: The District Disaster Management Authority will organize a final search in the entire landslide-hit zones of Wayanad's Mepadi panchayat, with the help of the people affected by the landslides and friends and relatives of the injured and deceased. Officials from army, police and the forest department will also join the people in the massive search from 6 am to 11 am on Friday.
If the people housed in the relief camps want to participate in the search operations for their kith and kin who went missing in the landslide, they can also join the mission. The state government would provide transportation facilities for them. Anticipating some psycho-traumatic situations for the survivors while visiting the site, a medical team will be deployed at the sites.
Revenue Minister K Rajan, along with other members of the ministerial subcommittee P A Mohammed Riyas and Forest Minister A K Saseendran, told reporters here, that the move is to ensure that the expertise of all concerned should be utilized in the search operations. With this, the ministerial sub committee aims at giving space to the kith and kin to involve in the final lap of the search. By Thursday evening, as many as 190 persons registered to participate in the search operation, the ministers said.
Minister Rajan said that this search operation would be one of the biggest ones held in the nation with the support of people from all walks of life.
The search was earlier planned as a full-day exercise. But the time frame was brought down to 11 am after the officers from the Special Protection Group (SPG) informed the district administration that they would take over the control of the entire stretch from 11 am on Friday ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit. Modi is expected to visit the landslide-hit areas on Saturday at 12 pm.
One more body received
Search operations for the missing people entered 10th day on Thursday. One more body was recovered from Chaliyar river at Nilambur. With this, the death toll recorded by the government touched 226.
Divided into six zones, the search of the day was conducted at Punchirimattam- the origin of the landslide, Mundakkai, Chooralmala, Soochippara and Kanthanpara waterfalls, Sunrise Valley, Pothukallu and both sides of River Chaliyar up to Nilambur.
Apart from volunteers, personnel from the army, forest, police, Fire and Rescue departments participated in the mission. A helicopter also was used for the special search drive in Sunrise Valley.