Congress' Thiruvananthapuram MP Shashi Tharoor has urged Home Minister Amit Shah to declare the Wayanad landslides as a "calamity of severe nature" under the MPLADS guidelines in order to facilitate urgent assistance from MPs to the affected areas.

In his letter to Shah, Tharoor said that on July 30, in the dead of night, a series of devastating landslides struck the Wayanad district of Kerala, claiming over hundred lives and leaving many more severely injured in hospitals, while countless others remain missing, trapped beneath the debris.

This disaster of unimaginable proportions has left behind a harrowing tale of death and destruction, the senior Congress leader said.

The rescue operations involving the armed forces, the Coast Guard, the National Disaster Response Force and other agencies continue their pitched battle against the vagaries of nature, he said.

The landslides have wreaked havoc upon countless lives and as such, it is of grave importance to extend all possible support to the people of Wayanad, Tharoor stressed.

Such is the scale of the disaster that it necessitates a coordinated and generous response from all sections of the society, he added.

"In light of this catastrophe, I am writing to you to declare this event a 'Calamity of Severe Nature' in terms of Paragraph 8.1 of the MPLADS Guidelines which would allow Members of Parliament to recommend works up to Rs 1 crore from their MPLADS funds, for the affected districts/ areas," Tharoor said in his letter dated July 31.

The willing Members of Parliament would then be able to generously contribute funds for relief and rehabilitation works in the areas affected by this tragedy, he said.

This will surely be invaluable in supporting the painstaking efforts for rescue, relief and rehabilitation, he said.

"I hope you will give this request your kind and sympathetic consideration," Tharoor said.

The Members of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme (MPLADS) enables MPs to suggest and get executed developmental works of a capital nature based on locally felt needs.

The death toll in the devastating landslides in Kerala's Wayanad district rose to 173. Several people were missing even as the rescue teams intensified efforts to find survivors trapped under the debris.

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