Rajnath Singh, LG to visit J&K;'s cloudburst-hit Chisoti village on Sunday

Jammu, Aug 22 (PTI)  Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha will visit cloudburst-hit Chisoti village in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kishtwar district to review the search operation and interact with the affected population.

The death toll from the natural calamity that struck Chisoti — the last motorable village en route to the Machail Mata temple — on August 14 has risen to 65, including three CISF personnel and one Special Police Officer (SPO) of J&K Police. Over 100 people were injured, and 32 remain missing.

Singh and Sinha will visit Chisoti village on Sunday, an official told PTI.

“They will be reviewing the search operation carried out by multiple agencies for the past nine days and also interact with the affected people,” he said.

Several high-profile leaders have already visited Chisoti to interact with people and oversee the operations.

On August 16, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah reached Chisoti village in Kishtwar district to assess the damage caused by flash floods triggered by the cloudburst.

Abdullah later announced ex gratia to the families of the deceased from the CM’s relief fund, in addition to SDRF support.

On the same day, Union Minister Jitendra Singh reviewed the rescue and relief operations in Chisoti and said the priority was to trace the people still missing and believed to be buried under the debris.

Leader of Opposition and senior BJP leader Sunil Sharma has been camping in the cloudburst-hit village since August 14, when the incident took place and assisting the relief operations in the area, which falls under his assembly segment Paddar-Nagseni in Kishtwar district.

Deputy Commissioner Kishtwar Pankaj Sharma, who is supervising the large-scale rescue and relief operation for the ninth day on Friday, said efforts are continuing to trace the remaining 32 missing persons. PTI AB AMJ AMJ