U'khand disaster a national tragedy, feels Narendra Modi

Dehradun, June 22: Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said that the massive natural disaster that devastated the Himalayan state of Uttarakhand is fit to be termed a 'national tragedy'.

Speaking to reporters here after his arrival on Friday night, Modi said the entire country was standing in solidarity with the hilll state at this moment of crisis and the Uttarakhand government will be helped in all respect to deal with the crisis.

Modi is set to take a stock of the flood-hit areas of the state on Saturday. He said teams from Gujarat were helping in the rescue operation for the past three days without any pause.

A confrontation was in the making between the BJP and the Congress on whether the Uttarakhand disaster should be called a 'national calamity'. While the BJP is in favour of such announcement, the Congress on Friday said that it was in no hurry to make such call.

Information and Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari on Friday said it was a moment of great crisis and not the time to debate whether to term the disaster as a 'man-made disaster' or 'national calamity'. He said it is more important to ensure at this time that each of the affected persons returns home safely.

OneIndia News