In huge relief for the people of Kerala, rain has abated in a majority of places in the state, and the Kerala Road Transport Corporation (RTC) has resumed almost all of its services.
The Kerala RTC has resumed operations services to all parts of the state barring the hilly regions of Idukki where the roads have been totally damaged in landslides.
The service from Kasargode to Madikeri in Kodagu has also been stopped owing to the heavy rains in Kodagu.
“In Idukki the services are up to Adimaly only, but in the rest of the state it has resumed almost fully,” Kerala RTC Divisional General Manager (Operations), Venugopal told TNM.
In a big respite for passengers, flight operations have commenced from the Kochi Naval Air Base. Air Alliance, a subsidiary of Air India, will operate three services a day from the air base. There will be two services to Bengaluru and one to Coimbatore. The first service from the air base took off to Bengaluru on Monday morning.
It is likely that Jet Airways and Indigo will also commence operations from the naval base to various locations in the coming days. The flight operations would be from 10 am to 5 pm and there won’t be any night flights. Cochin International Airport (CIAL) official spokesperson PS Jayan told TNM that the operations assistance for the services are being provided by CIAL.
The main airport at Kochi will not be operational till August 26. The airport remains shut down since August 15 after it was submerged in the heavy rains.
In the most flood-hit areas, Kerala RTC had been operating services to shift people to relief camps as the water receded. Around 500 buses were pressed into service.
Karnataka STRTC has also started running services in all routes between the states except Kasargod.
Meanwhile state police chief Loknath Behera said that the rescue operations will be completed by Monday evening.
“Helicopters have been deployed in Pandanad in Chengannur, where the rescue operations were hampered due to adverse weather,” he told media.