Chief Minister Oommen Chandy said on Tuesday that the Keralites stranded in flood-ravaged Kashmir region were safe and that efforts to evacuate all of them were on. As per official estimates, as many as 301 Keralites including film actress Apoorva Bose and Upa lokayukta KP Balachandran have been stranded in Kashmir due to the flood.
In all, 88 people stranded in Kashmir were shifted to Delhi by air on Monday and Tuesday. On Tuesday, 70 people were brought to Delhi in two batches while 18 had been transferred on Monday. The State Government, in coordination with the Army, Military Intelligence and the National Disaster Management Force, was closely monitoring the situation, sources said.
The Chief Minister directed Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala to fly to Delhi in order to coordinate the evacuation efforts. Chennithala has entrusted DGP KS Balasubra-maniam and senior bureaucrat Nivedita P Haran with the task of overseeing the process. Cha-ndy said all required facilities for the evacuees would be arranged at Kerala House in Delhi.
"After we opened the control room (at Thiruvananthapuram on Monday), relatives and tour operators had contacted us. We know that all the Keralites stranded in Kashmir are safe," Chandy said in Kottayam. Revenue Minister Adoor Prakash said that priority at the moment was to ensure that those stranded in Kashmir were getting food supplies and water.
According to information received by the State Government from tour operators, as many as 150 Keralites were at Hotel Royal Batoo at Dalgate in Srinagar. The lokayukta protocol officer said that Justice Balachandran and his family were safe a Srinagar hotel where they were staying. Justice Balachandran had gone to Kashmir on September 6.
Actress Apoorva Bose had gone to Kashmir on August 15 as part of a 12-member trekking team in which five were from Ernakulam district. Her mother said the actress had called on Sunday but added that was no communication after that. According to reports, flood waters had risen on Sunday to the level of the third floor of the hotel where she was staying.