By Our Staff Reporter
Dehradun, 4 Aug: Secretary, Disaster Management and Rehabilitation, Vinod Kumar Suman informed this evening that rescue, relief and search operations in the wake of damages caused by excessive rain in Kedar Valley on 31 August are continuing at full scale. He admitted that the cloudburst on 31 July has caused heavy damage to the infrastructure.
Suman added that the Chief Minister has given instructions to carry out search and rescue and relief operations with full force and rescue the people stranded on Kedarnath and Yatra route due to this disaster. In compliance to the instructions given by the Chief Minister, yesterday, 58 people from Kedarnath Dham, 1849 people from Bhimbali and Lyncholi and 75 people from Chirbasa (Gaurikund), had been airlifted thus making it a total of 1982 people who were airlifted yesterday. In addition, about 455 people have been evacuated from Bhimbali and Lyncholi via Chaumasi-Kalimath and about 6662 people have been evacuated safely between Gaurikund and Sonprayag. Till yesterday, 9099 people had been evacuated safely from 1 August.
Suman claimed that rescue, search and relief operations are continuing in the valley. Adding that dense clouds have been continuously covering Kedarnath and the route to Kedarnath, he conceded that the rescue work is being constantly hampered. The Chinook helicopter provided by the Indian Air Force has not been able to fly even a single flight so far due to bad weather. Due to inclement weather, only 3 sorties were taken by the MI-17 helicopter so far, and only 60 people have been rescued.
He said that in such a situation, the state government is carrying out rescue operations with small helicopters. Today about 400 people were brought from Kedarnath to Lincholi on foot and from Lincholi, they were airlifted in choppers to Chardham helipad, Sirsi helipad etc. Currently, 5 helicopters have been deployed for rescue work. Today, about 560 people from Lincholi and Bhimbali and 80 people from Kedarnath were rescued. In total, 640 people have been rescued today, he informed.
The Secretary Disaster Management reminded that till this evening, 138 people from Kedarnath Dham, 2409 people from Lincholi and Bhimbali and 75 people from Chirbasa (Gaurikund) have been rescued, thus a total of 2622 people have been airlifted and brought to Chardham helipad, Sirsi helipad etc. So far, a total of 567 people have been brought to Chaumasi Kalimath by foot from Bhimbali and Linchauli. Similarly, a total of 7185 people have been brought back from Gaurikund to Sonprayag. Thus, a total of 10,374 people have been brought back till 5 pm today.
He added that everyone has been rescued safely from Gaurikund. There is no pilgrim left in Gaurikund. At present, only local residents, shopkeepers, doli palanquin operators, horse mule operators etc. are living there. At present, most of the passengers have been rescued safely from Bhimbali and Lincholi. At present, about 50 pilgrims are staying in Lincholi while about 350 passengers are staying in Kedarnath Dham. Apart from that about 350 pilgrims, local shopkeepers, local residents and horse and mule operators, palanquin operators and Teerth Purohits are also staying in Kedarnath Dham. However, the CM has directed the officials to ensure that the local residents or traders should also be brought to safe places in case they wish to come down from the Dham. In addition, he has also instructed to make proper arrangements for food and shelter for the people stranded along the Kedarnath Yatra route.
Suman claimed that on the instructions of the CM, proper arrangements for food and shelter have been made for the people stranded at various places on the Kedarnath Yatra route. And shelter is being arranged for their stay. Adequate arrangements for food items are being made at all these places. So far, 12,600 food packets, 10,570 water bottles, 1, 000 juice packets and 1,000 biscuit packets have been distributed in Sonprayag and lunch has been arranged for 1,198 people and dinner for 250 people. 3,200 food packets and 12,860 water bottles have been distributed in Sirsi. At the same time, about 18,650 food packets and 27,930 water bottles have been distributed so far at Munkatiya, Gaurikund Chardham helipad Chaumasi, Kedarnath helipads. Currently, food items are available for more than 15 days in Kedarnathi, 7 quintals of rice, 2.50 quintals of atta flour, 2.50 quintals of pulses, 7 kg of tea, sufficient quantity of water bottles, spices, dry fruits etc. have been delivered to Bhimbali with the help of helicopters between 2 and 3 August. Similarly, 50 kg flour, 50 kg rice, 50 kg potatoes, 5 kg salt, 10 kg salt, 10 kg oil, 10 kg pulses, 30 kg sugar, 888 water bottles and other materials were delivered to Chaumasi yesterday.
The Chief Minister has given instructions to expedite the search and rescue and relief operations. In compliance with the instructions of the CM, manpower has been increased in search and rescue and relief operations. Till yesterday, a total of 882 people were deployed in in search and rescue and relief operations. However today, 278 more people have been added for the rescue and relief operations. Suman informed that as on today, a total of 1,160 people are deployed in search, rescue and relief operations. A special campaign is being run to search those people whose relatives are unable to contact them.
