Telugu Desam Party president N Chandrababu Naidu, on Sunday, demanded that the Centre declare the Uttarakhand floods as a national disaster.
In a letter addressed to Prime Minister D Manmohan Singh, Naidu demanded that the Centre should bear all the expenses of rescue, relief and rehabilitation.
He also requested the Prime Minister to declar a health-emergency in the flood-affected areas of Uttarakhand.
Expressing concern over the high number of causalities, the TDP chief said that an ex-gratia of Rs. 10 lakhs each should be paid to the families who lost their bread -earners.
Naidu also requested the Prime Minister to make special efforts to rescue the pilgrims from Andhra Pradesh. Stating that of the 10,000 pilgrims from the State, only 3,000 pilgrims have reached safe places, he demanded immediate steps to trace and rescue the remaining pilgrims.
Lauding the services being rendered by the Indian Army and other personnel, he said that measures should also be taken for safe return of the affected pilgrims to their homes.