Priyanka Gandhi Visits Kalladi Disaster Site, Meets Victims and Rescue Teams

On Saturday, July 25, All‑India Congress Committee general secretary and Wayanad MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra made her way to Kalladi, a hamlet near Meppadi in Kerala’s Wayanad district. The place was still reeling from a tragic debris slip that struck the tunnel‑road construction zone on July 7, leaving eight dead and nine injured.

Gandhi walked through the scarred landscape, taking a close look at the damaged stretch of the Wayanad tunnel road. She sat down with local residents, elected officials, district administrators and representatives of Dilip Buildcon, the contractor behind the project. The aim, she said, was to understand what went wrong and how the community could be helped.

Among the families she met was that of Ashraf Pulikkalakkath, who lost his home in the slide. Accompanied by his wife and children, Ashraf voiced his concerns and fears. Gandhi listened patiently, assuring them that the government would mobilise every possible resource to rebuild and rehabilitate those displaced.

The MP’s itinerary also took her to WIMS Hospital in Meppadi, where the injured were receiving treatment. She spent time with two patients, Rajneesh and Suraj Yadav, migrants from Madhya Pradesh, and with the relatives of a labourer named Dileep, who remains in intensive care. Gandhi discussed the patients’ conditions with doctors, seeking updates on their recovery and any additional support they might need.

Later, at a felicitation ceremony organised by the district administration in Krishna Gowder Hall, Puliyarmala, Gandhi praised the volunteers, rescue workers and medical staff who had rushed to the scene. “Whenever Wayanad faces a natural disaster, its people stand together, helping anyone in distress, irrespective of state, religion or gender,” she remarked, highlighting the self‑less spirit that guided the relief effort.

Gandhi’s visit, she said, was not just a symbolic gesture but a pledge to keep the district’s concerns on the national agenda and to ensure that the families affected by the Kalladi slip receive timely assistance.