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PM announces Rs 1,000-cr relief to state
Generation in hydropower houses remains dismal
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Food packets, blankets sent for victims
Ministers, commissioners of WB, Rajasthan, Andhra reach Dehradun
Tehri Dam a saviour for downstream areas
Trail of devastation across region instils fear among villagers
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PM announces Rs 1,000-cr relief to state
Dehradun, June 19 The Prime Minister also announced an ex gratia assistance of Rs 2 lakh each to the families of those who have lost their lives and Rs 50,000 each to those who have been injured from the Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund (PMNRF). An ex gratia assistance of Rs 1 lakh each to those whose houses have been completely destroyed and Rs 50,000 each to those whose houses have been partially damaged would also be provided from the Prime Ministers’ National Relief Fund. “Sonia Gandhi, Chairperson, UPA, and I undertook an aerial survey of the rain- and flood-affected areas of Uttarakhand. We saw for ourselves the large-scale devastation that has been caused in the state. Our hearts go out to the families of those who have lost their lives and those who have suffered injury or loss of property in this huge tragedy,” he said in a statement after his visit. Assessing the magnitude of the losses, both in terms of lives lost and houses destroyed, or the damage to buildings, roads and other infrastructure, he said it was an exercise that would take some more time. The priority for the authorities at the moment was to rescue the stranded people and provide urgently needed succour to those most in need of it, the statement said. ”What the Chairperson, UPA, and I saw today was most distressing. While the most recent estimates put the death toll at 102, it is feared that loss of lives could eventually be much higher. So far, more than 10,000 people have been rescued and are being provided food, clothing and shelter. Many persons still remain stranded. The maximum damage has been in Kedarnath and its vicinity. The immediate need is for rescue and relief operations and the government will not spare any effort in this regard,” said the Prime Minister. The central and state governments have deployed all possible resources to deal with the immediate aftermath of the ghastly tragedy. About 5,500 jawans and officers of the Army, 3,000 men of the Border Roads Organisation and 600 ITBP personnel are engaged in relief and rescue efforts. Thirteen teams of the National Disaster Response Force have been deployed. The Air Force has deployed 18 helicopters and a C-130 aircraft. Private helicopters have also been engaged by the state government.
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Generation in hydropower houses remains dismal
Dehradun, June 19 The rural belt of Udham Singh Nagar and Haridwar faced power cuts of six hours; in small towns the cuts were up to two hours. To make up the shortage of power supply, Uttarakhand Power Corporation (UPCL) today bought 300 MW of power for Rs 2 crore.
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Food packets, blankets sent for victims
Dehradun June 19 He said 19,500 food packets containing rusk, water bottles, ORS mixture and biscuits and 850 blankets and 200 containers carrying drinking water bottles were sent for the victims. — TNS
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Ministers, commissioners of WB, Rajasthan, Andhra reach Dehradun
Dehradun, June 19 The Minister of Disaster Management and Relief (Independent), Rajasthan, Brijendra Singh Ola, said that along with ensuring the safety of residents of Rajasthan , who were stranded in different places of Uttarakhand, the Rajasthan government has decided to extend monetary and manpower help to the government of Uttarakhand. ''For us the safety of our residents is primary, but we are moved by the large-scale devastation in Uttarakhand and have decided to set up three relief camps at Dehradun, Rishikesh and Haridwar,'' said Ola, while speaking with The Tribune. The minister said that he had personally entrusted senior Principal Secretary Deepak Upreti of Rajasthan to oversee the safe passage and relief operations in Uttarakhand. ''We would be arranging buses for our residents to take them back home,'' said the minister. The minister said that while no one could change the course of nature, attempts should be made to minimise the impact of the devastation. ''The yatra has to be planned in a manner so that to avoid overcrowding, and advance weather warnings should be issued and strict measures should be taken to prevent the pilgrims from proceeding further,'' he said. Similarly, Transport Minister of West Bengal Madan Mitra said that they were still collecting information on the number of pilgrims and tourists from West Bengal stranded in different places. ''It is exceedingly difficult to ascertain how many pilgrims and tourists from West Bengal are stranded. We have received reports of four pilgrims being airlifted in the morning. There may be around 1500-2000 pilgrims and tourists stranded,'' said Mitra. Assistant Resident Commissioner, West Bengal, Bhaskar Khulbe, said that efforts were on to get details from the travel agents about the number of pilgrims who may come to Uttarakhand through them.''The details are still awaited, but most of our pilgrims are in Chamoli and Harsil,'' he said. The Assistant Director, Ram Kotaiah, Governement of Andhra Pradesh, today held talks with the government officials and said that they had set up a control room in Delhi and are tracking the number of pilgrims and tourists from the state. ''We have deployed two teams in Dehradun and Haridwar for this purpose. A total of 600 tourists and pilgrims are stranded in Rajasthan,'' he said.
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Tehri Dam a saviour for downstream areas
Dehradun, June 19 In case the water inflow of Bhagirathi had been released from the Tehri reservoir, it could have caused an additional rise in the water level. In that case Rishikesh, where Ganga was flowing 2 metre above the danger level (340.50 metres), an additional 3 metres rise could have been recorded. Same is the case with Haridwar where Ganga was flowing 1.5 metres above the danger level (294.00 metres). Thus, Tehri Dam project proved a saviour in flood control. It is also pertinent to mention that due to heavy rainfall and landslides, many hydroelectric projects had stopped functioning due to silt content in water. On the other hand, Tehri Dam (4x250 MW) and Koteshwar Dam (4x100 MW), being storage projects, are continuously generating electricity and providing sustainable support to the grid in this crisis. THDCIL is one of the premier hydropower generators in the country with installed capacity of 1400 MW with the commissioning of Tehri and Koteshwar Dam to its credit and is bestowed with the 'Mini Ratna-Category-I & Schedule A Status.' THDCIL also has plans to increase its installed capacity to 2424 MW by the end of the 12th Plan.
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Trail of devastation across region instils fear among villagers
Mussoorie, June 19 Syalsi, Sinjal, Kinsu, Saragad, Sirwa, Duggada, Untad, Chakpot, Mathmali, Chopda, Sunao, Rautu ki Beli, Udarsyun, Budkot and main market of Thatyur have incurred irreparable loss of live tock and damage to property. At Parodi village half of the village has been swept away in the flash floods triggered by cloudbursts. Cowsheds have incurred severe damage in many villages leaving the cattle buried alive under mud debris. Upendar Lekwhar from Parodi village, reminiscing the monsoon fury that occurred on Sunday, said that they were sleeping in their houses when they heard a loud bang and water accompanied with mud debris swept away their homes within no time forcing them to take shelter hastily. However, the mud debris inundated the cowsheds burying the cattle alive in it. Sarpal Singh, resident of Thatyur,who was fortunate enough to recount his tale, said that he was in his car and returning to Thatyur on Sunday when his car was caught in the mud debris that fell on the road near Sata Gad, forcing the vehicle towards the deep gorge. Fortunately, the car caught in the debris stopped at the edge of the road giving him time to rush for shelter. The vehicle was pulled out of the debris with the help of JCB machines to clear the road by PWD officials. The devastation story on the other side of the region towards Kempty is also grim as Aglar-Thatyur motor road has incurred damage near Yamuna bridge, making it difficult to access basic amenities. The supply of milk and other vegetables from the area to Mussoorie has also been hit due to absence of vehicular movement. Around 50 per cent of the irrigated fields have been washed away in the flash floods triggered by the downpour that continued for 72 hours a couple of days back rendering farmers' crops useless. The villagers affected due to the devastation have demanded their rehabilitation to some safer places due to recurring natural disaster over the years. The former Disaster Management Minister, Khajan Das, said that the area under Dhanaulti Assembly segment had been on the radar of natural disasters for the past several years and a survey was conducted in which it was found that more than 220 villages of the state required immediate rehabilitation. It was submitted to the government at the Centre but no action had been initiated so far. Khajan Das also said that he had requested the Prime Minister after the disaster in 2010 to provide land for rehabilitation of these villagers but the whole project was kept in the back-burner.
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Immense damage to property, loss of livestock in Tehri Garhwal
Mussoorie, June 19 With no signs of road being cleared, the district administration officials had to tread on foot to reach Thatyur in one hour and were able to provide gratia relief of Rs 2,700 to three persons who had incurred loss to their property and livestock here. CDO Sabeen Bansal after completing the detailed survey of the region directed the officials to note down the names of all affected persons and provide them interim relief without any delay. He also interacted with the villagers and heard their grievances on the spot. Speaking to The Tribune, CDO Sabeen Bansal said that the devastation had been unprecedented in the region. He also said that they were facing immense difficulty in reaching the affected villages due to the damaged roads the efforts were being made through other channels to provide relief on priority basis. Sabeen Bansal also directed the PWD officials to deploy more JCB machines to clear the roads that have been damaged due to landslips in the area. The villagers airing their concern apprised the district administration officials about the slow pace of the relief work being done here and said that they were under the grip of fear as many buildings in the main Thatyur Market were damaged due to the outburst of Aglar river a few days back. The villagers also informed the officials that they were facing immense difficulty as most of the villages had been rendered without any electricity as the power substation at Thatyur had been completely inundated in the mud debris triggered by the flash floods. The communications system had collapsed due to absence of electricity as most of the people were unable to recharge their phones, said villagers. Around 40 villages in the region are facing acute drinking water crisis as more than 16 drinking water projects have been damaged completely. Many villagers from Parodi, Chinad, Dunda, Sinjal, Thatyur,Dhana,Kehra,Papra etc said that foul smell has begun emanating from the cattle buried under the debris which could result into a major endemic if immediate action was not initiated soon. The villagers also lamented the fact that many government officials despite clear directions were not budging an inch from the block headquarters at Thatyur and were fulfilling their duty of damage assessment by sending peon-level officials to the villages. The CDO, Sabeen Bansal, assured the villagers that all the necessary arrangements will be made on priority basis.
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Tehri Dam has proved to be a saviour for the downstream areas in the recent heavy rains and floods throughout the state. Due to the recent heavy rainfall in
Uttarakhand, the water inflow in Tehri Dam from Bhagirathi and its tributaries reached about 7000 cumecs (approx 2.50 lakh cusecs), of which a mere 500 cumecs (approx 17.60 thousand cusecs) were released from Tehri Dam
reservoir.
Mussoorie, June 19
