Concerned relatives are waiting for news of those missing

The state government in Maharashtra, of which Bombay is the capital, has promised $220 to each injured person and $550 to relatives of those killed in the landslide.

One senior Bombay official said it would take at least two days to clear the rubble in the slum area devastated by a torrent of mud and rocks.

Mrs Gandhi distributed clothes to survivors and visited the injured in a local hospital. She called for a national policy to help people living in precarious conditions in India's cities.

Slum dwellers account for 60% of Bombay's 12 million population.

Gujarat floods

Bombay has been limping back to normal as the rain eases off, with road and rail traffic resuming.

But torrential rain has continued to pelt parts of Gujarat, and the army has rescued more than 3,000 people stranded by floods in the state capital Ahmedabad.

The disaster scene: Bombay has millions of poor migrants

The Bombay victims were from a community of Muslim slum settlers who inhabit about 200 small hovels on the Balbati hillside in Ghatkopar district.

The disaster is believed to have been caused by a leaking septic tank which had gradually loosened earth on the hillside.

Days of torrential rain then triggered the landslip which crushed the tin and concrete dwellings below.

Insecticide and eucalyptus oil are being used to combat flies and the stench of rotting bodies.

Perilous conditions

Local officials have warned that similar tragedies could happen elsewhere in the city.

One official, Sitaram Kunte, said they had warned people in the area that it had been potentially dangerous.

A municipal commissioner, Prithviraj Bayas, said an official study found that 200,000 families in Bombay were living on "footpaths, railway tracks and hilltops".