Sonia condoles flood deaths, seeks quick relief to victims

Condoling the deaths in the floods in north India, Congress president Sonia Gandhi Tuesday asked the central and state governments to provide quick relief and rehabilitation to the affected people and ensure travel arrangements for the stranded tourists.

"The Congress president has issued directions for timely and prompt relief measures to be provided to the flood-affected people and asked them to ensure speedy rehabilitation and proper preventive measures," said a statement issued by Congress general secretary Ajay Maken.

"She has asked the chief ministers to ensure that arrangements for communication and travel were made for the stranded tourists," it said.

According to the statement, Gandhi spoke to union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde and Vijay Bahuguna and Virbhadra Singh, chief ministers of Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh, respectively, and "enquired about the situation arising out of the floods caused by heavy monsoon rains and cloud burst".

"The Congress chief expressed deep grief and condolences to the families of the bereaved," it said.

Rains lashed Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh for the fourth consecutive day Tuesday, taking up the toll to 58 and leaving over 58,000 people wet and miserable after they got stranded.

The met department predicted more rains over the next two days in northern India.