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Updated: Oct 01, 2019 19:45 IST

Congress leaderRahul Gandhi who is on a visit to his constituency Wayanad in north Kerala has written to chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Tuesday urging him to expedite flood relief and rehabilitation work for the affected families in several districts of the southern state.

“Post flood relief and rehabilitation is critical, especially in the backdrop of widespread agrarian distress and a slowing economy. Two consecutive years of flooding have resulted in extensive damage to public infrastructure, highways, rural roads, bridges and culverts. I hope that the state government is pursuing the matter with the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) to secure funds under the Central Road Fund (CRF) and Economic Importance and Inter-State Connectivity Schemes (EI&ISC),” Rahul Gandhi wrote in his letter.

After reviewing the post-flood relief and rehabilitation efforts initiated by the CPI (M)-led LDF government in Kerala, the former Congress chief urged Vijayan to ensure time-bound payment of compensations and roll out flood mitigation measures as soon as possible.

Gandhi, in his letter, also suggested the setting up of early warning systems to alert people in vulnerable areas and provide specially designed landslide/flood shelters with communication facilities in such places.

Later in the day, the Congress leader met the CM and discussed the ban on night travel on National Highway-766, which passes through the Bandipur Tiger Reserve. The movement of traffic through the forest was banned from 9 pm to 6 am in an effort to reduce disturbance to wildlife. Locals in Kerala had protested vehemently against the ban. However, the Supreme Court upheld the ban last month and asked authorities to develop an alternate route.

After the Supreme Court verdict, the Kerala chief minister had proposed an elevated highway through the national park connecting Wayanad with Mysuru and Bengaluru but the union environment ministry had turned down his proposal. The state government said the ban was affecting people of at least three districts, Wayanad, Kozhikkode and Malappuram.

Rahul Gandhi told the Kerala chief minister that he wanted to give a sense to the government that this was a serious situation, which needed to be addressed urgently.