M A I N   N E W S

4 more bodies found; avalanche toll 15

Srinagar/Jammu, February 13
The bodies of four more Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) personnel were recovered from the Jawahar Tunnel area today, a defence ministry spokesman said.

The deceased were identified as Constables Zakir Hussain, Padam Singh, Kasu Ram and Om Prakash of 7th battalion of the ITBP.

With this a total of 15 ITBP and the Indian Reserve Police (IRP) personnel have lost their lives in snow avalanche on the Srinagar-Jammu national highway which remained closed for six days due to heavy snowfall.

A huge snow avalanche swept three Ignoo huts on Sunday last, killing the ITBP personnel who were guarding the tunnel against any militant attack.

A massive avalanche swept away five huts of ITBP personnel posted on guard at the tunnel, burying 20 jawans under a huge pile of snow.

Six bodies were retrieved and four jawans were rescued on February 7 while three jawans were rescued after 36 hours the next day. One of the rescued jawans succumbed to injuries later on.

The joint search team continued its operations in spite of hostile weather conditions and has recovered the bodies of all the missing jawans, the spokesman added.

Amid inclement weather due to fresh snowfall and rain, the Indian Air Force today pressed four choppers into service to airlift 300 passengers stranded on the 300-km long Jammu-Srinagar national highway which was partially reopened for vehicular traffic, official sources said here.

The highway has been partially re-opened for vehicular traffic as Jawahar Tunnel, the main link between Srinagar and Jammu which was blocked due to snow, was thrown open yesterday. All the 2000-odd Srinagar-bound stranded passengers have reached their homes, the sources told PTI.

Nearly 700 Jammu-bound stranded passengers were also transported to Jammu yesterday leaving only 300, who were stranded in the Banihal-Ramsoo stretch of the highway, they said.

To airlift these passengers to Jammu, the IAF has pressed into service four choppers since this morning, they said adding that this was the fourth day of the rescue and relief operation undertaken by the Air Force.

However, fresh snowfall, rains and heavy cloudy weather are making IAF’s operation difficult with choppers failing to land at Banihal today, the sources said.

The only surface link between Kashmir and the rest of the country, Jawahar Tunnel, is open for the traffic today and the road stretch between Srinagar to Ramsoo is clear, but two to three major landslides occurred in the area, they said.

Assisted by the Army and the police, the Border Roads Organisation has restarted operation to clear blockades and fully reopen the highway for single or two-way traffic between Jammu and Srinagar, the sources added.

SHIMLA: After a fortnight, the sun shone brightly in the capital resort here and the lower areas of Himachal Pradesh.

In the higher areas, people have been advised to stay indoors, due to avalanche fears. The Snow and Avalanche Study Establishment (SASE) at Manali has warned that with the weather clearing, the possibility of an avalanche in the snow-bound areas, had arisen.

Horticulturists and farmers are cheerful as the threat to crops has receded with the improvement in weather. Agriculture experts had warned that excessive rains could damage wheat, potato and other crops.

Shimla and its surrounding areas experienced rain till early this morning before the weather cleared. Similarly, the tribal areas and high hills experienced heavy snowfall. The minimum temperature in many parts of the tribal belt is still hovering around minus 10° to minus 15° Celsius.

In the capital town, the minimum temperature recorded was 4° Celsius, in Sundernagar it was 6.1° C and in Bhuntar in Kulu district it was 5.1° C. The minimum temperature at Mashobra near here was 2.7° and maximum 11.5° C, according to the met office here today. — UNI, PTI

Trapped ITBP men safe
Balkrishan Prashar

Chamba, February 13
All the hype over the incident of disruption in wireless communication between the district headquarters of Chamba and the Sonthit outer check post set up by the Indo-Tibet Border Police (ITBP) on the border land of the district was today over when an Indian Air Force chopper found that the 17 jawans posted at the Check post were safe. The communication link was established after two days. The communication link was, in fact, disrupted due to some failure in the apparatus of wireless.

Addressing a joint press conference here today, Mr Rahul Anand, Deputy Commissioner, and Mr J.P. Singh, Superintendent of Police, Chamba, stated that the Sonthit outer check post was permanently set up in September, 1998, on a plateau at an altitude of about 3300 metres and about 12 km from a road head village, Sanghni, in the Kihar border sector of Chamba district.

They said that the helicopter of the Indian Air Force, which had an aerial recce around 11 a.m., returned and landed at Chamba at about 12 O’clock. They said there was no need of evacuating the jawans. The chopper also airdropped foodstuffs and medicines.

They further said that the rescue teams called from mountaineering institute at Manali and Bharmour had arrived at Chamba and if need be would be sent to the outer check post.

Denying the exaggerated media reports, both the officers clarified that the ITBP jawans were neither trapped in the snow nor missing as reported because it was the permanent check post which was in operation smoothly for the past over six years.