Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday asserted that his government is taking all measures to support the people of Uttarakhand, parts of which were hit by floods following a glacier burst on Sunday, and assured a delegation of state MPs that it is working to further strengthen infrastructure there to deal with any natural disaster in future.
According to BJP MP Anil Baluni, a Rajya Sabha member from the state, Modi said that the central government stands with the people of the hill-state in this hour of crisis and is constantly monitoring the ongoing rescue operations.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP president J P Nadda were also present at the meeting.
Modi said several institutions of the central government, be it the Indo-Tibetan Border Police, National Disaster Response Force, Army or Air Force, are part of the rescue mission and state bodies are also working effectively, according to Baluni.
Noting that the Himalayan state is vulnerable to natural disasters, Modi asserted that the government is working to further boost the state's infrastructure to deal with such crisis.
Uttarakhand MPs Ajay Bhatt, Ajay Tamta, Naresh Bansal and Mala Rajya Laxmi Shah were also part of the delegation from the state.
Eighteen bodies have been recovered and 202 are still missing after the glacier burst in Uttarakhand’s Chamoli district, officials said on Monday, as multiple agencies joined hands to rescue at least 30 workers trapped in a tunnel at a power project site.