Puttingal fire: PM's visit a 'morale booster', says Jitendra Singh

Expressing grave concern over the loss of innocent lives following the massive fire at the Puttingal temple in Kerala, Minister of State in the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) Jitendra Singh today said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to the site would act as a morale booster.

"Certainly, this is a very tragic accident and the entire nation feels shocked and is in grief. A saving grace and a matter of consolation is that Prime Minister Narendra Modi immediately took cognizance of it," Singh told ANI.

"Without losing any time, he responded both physically, emotionally and sent out his message of help to them and ensured that the disaster relief agencies, the Home Ministry and the other related departments were put into action. He has himself since then left for Kollam which itself is a great gesture and a morale booster which perhaps was not witnessed during the tenures of the earlier prime ministers," he added.

At least 98 people have lost their lives and more than 350 others injured in the fire that took place in the wee hours on Sunday.

An explosion in piles of crackers during fireworks display is said to be the reason behind the fire that broke out at around 3.30 a.m. The police had earlier warned the temple authorities to restrict usage of fireworks.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has announced an ex-gratia relief of Rs. two lakh to next of the kin of the deceased and Rs. 50,000 to those critically injured in the incident.

The Prime Minister, who is en-route Kollam with a team of burn specialist doctors, has instructed that no official welcome protocols should be followed on his arrival.