PTI
Army personnel rescue stranded pilgrims from flood-hit Govind Ghat in Chamoli, Uttarakhand on Tuesday.
Kedarnath shrine intact, say reports; thousands of pilgrims still remain stranded
With skies clearing, rescue of stranded people and relief operations
intensified on Wednesday in Uttarakhand where the death toll in the rain
and floods shot up to 150 as thousands of pilgrims still remained
stranded.
Reports on Wednesday suggested that the famous Kedarnath shrine, where
50 people died in the landslide that accompanied torrential rain and
flash floods, is intact notwithstanding the heavy damage all around.
With rains abating in the last two days, there were no fresh incidents of landslides and flooding.
Accompanied by Congress President Sonia Gandhi, Prime Minister Manmohan
Singh made an aerial survey of the worst-hit areas while Union Home
Secretary R.K. Singh also undertook a similar mission separately.
Uttarakhand Principal Secretary Om Prakash said the death toll in the
state has gone up to 150 but was not in a position to give the exact
estimate since several villages in Chamoli and Rudraprayag districts in
the upper reaches were still under water.
Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna told reporters that he was also not in a
position to give the exact estimate of death and destruction which he
said was unprecedented in the state.
It would take one year to restore normalcy on the road to Kedarnath from
the after effects of the cloud burst which he described as a “Himalayan
tsunami“.
The first priority is to rescue the stranded people especially those on
pilgrimage from various parts of the country, distribution of medicines
and rehabilitation and compensation for the affected, he said.
The weather cleared in most places making it easier for rescue personnel
to launch operations for those stranded, especially in Badrinath shrine
where 12,000 pilgrims are still stuck.
Disaster Management authorities said in Chamoli that eight bodies were
recovered by villagers late last evening from Bansinarayan area of
Kedarnath Wildlife Sanctuary.
Chamoli Additional District Magistrate Sanjay Kumar said 1,500 pilgrims
and locals have been evacuated so far from Ghanghariya, Duendhar and
Pulna from near Hemkund Sahib in the district to Joshimath relief camps.
With the improvement in weather many more stranded pilgrims are likely
to be evacuated to safety by the evening, he said adding evacuation of
pilgrims from Badrinath is next on their agenda. One thousand persons
have also been evacuated from Kedarnath, an official in Rudraprayag
said.
The officials said evacuating people to safer places is their priority as recovery of bodies can be taken up later.
The Chief Minister said very heavy casualties are feared, electric poles
have been uprooted and several roads have been damaged in the calamity,
the scale of which was not imagined.
5,000 people are in Gauri Kund.
With the weather clearing in most places, operations commenced in full
swing to rescue the stranded, especially in Badrinath shrine where
12,000 pilgrims are still stuck.
While 1,500 pilgrims and locals were rescued from in Chamoli district, 1,200 stranded tourists were evacuated in Rudraprayag.
Officials said that evacuating people to safer places was their priority as recovery of bodies can be taken up later.
On the steps being initiated by the government to provide succour to the
victims, Union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde said in New Delhi that
IAF helicopters have been deployed to evacuate stranded people from
Gaurikund while a control centre has been established in Badrinath.
“Fourteen teams comprising 540 persons of National Disaster Response
Force (NDRF) have been deployed in Uttarakhand. 62,790 people are
stranded in Uttarakhand. 5,000 people have been rescued by the Army,”
Mr. Shinde said.
Rescue operations were also on in rain-ravaged tribal Kinnaur district
of Himachal Pradesh for the second day on Wednesday and one state and
two IAF choppers were evacuating stranded people at various points in
Kinnaur district and adjoining Kaza area of Spiti.
“The exact number of people stranded at various places is not known, but
the priority is to evacuate tourists and the aged and ailing persons
first,” HP Principal Secretary (Home), Tarun Sridhar said.
ITBP DG Ajay Chadha said that it was difficult to give exact figures of
those rescued as a number of agencies were involved in the relief
efforts.
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