Gauchar/Guptkashi, June 26
With the weather clearing a bit and the threat of an epidemic looming large, mass cremation of bodies of people killed in the rain fury in Uttarakhand finally began in Kedarnath today, even as 3,500 people waited to be rescued 11 days after the disaster.

Fresh rains and dense fog hampered rescue operations on Wednesday even as 1,000 more stranded people were evacuated from Badrinath and Harshil sectors by air and road routes in rain and fog. IAF Chief Air Chief Marshal NAK Browne on a morale-boosting mission to Uttarakhand after Tuesday’s IAF helicopter crash pledged to continue with rescue efforts and hoped to wrap up the same in the next few days.

When Air Chief Marshall Browne arrived at the launching pad of the massive rescue operations in his dark blue flying overalls, the mood was sombre. A fighter pilot himself, the IAF Chief had four messages for the two dozen-odd pilots and an equal number of ground crew stationed here. Three of the messages were subtle confidence-building measures, but one message was loud and clear, perhaps aimed at his entire force of 1.70 lakh responsible for securing the country’s airspace: “I want to see the pilots and crew smiling.”

The first subtle message was that the IAF Chief too travelled in a Mi-17 helicopter (a similar copter had crashed yesterday killing twenty persons, including three pilots and two crew members). He flew on a sortie carrying relief material and supplies and not on a VVIP flight. On the return flight, he even brought some people to Dehradun. Third, he went and sat in the pilots’ makeshift tent that serves as the command centre sipping tea and pepping up the team after yesterday’s crash.

Minutes after landing, the Air Chief addressed the pilots and crew on the tarmac of the small air strip at Gauchar in the Himalayas. When reporters asked him what he told the pilots and crew, he said: “I just told them that I want to see them smiling. I told them they need to keep moving forward.”

This is not the first time that Air Chief Marshall Browne has assured pilots. On December 20, 2011, he flew a Sukhoi-30-MKI a week after one of the machines crashed to repose confidence in the plane and assure the country that it was safe.

Talking to reporters, Browne said “The morale of the force is extremely high. They're proud to be here, they're proud to be doing this job and I'm extremely happy with the way they are performing.

An absolutely marvelous effort not just by our people, but also of the Army, the ITBP and the NDRF.” Browne stayed here for almost an hour and also met the two Brigadiers of the Indian-Army based there to monitor operations, the ITBP’s IG, IS Negi and its DIG Amit Prasad.

At Kedarnath, the epicentre of the destruction, the cremation of bodies finally began. "The cremation of bodies in Kedarnath, which was being put off again and again for the past two days due to bad weather, was finally started this afternoon," IAS officer Ravinath Raman told PTI from Guptkashi. However, the number of bodies cremated was not immediately known.

Around 3,500 people are still waiting to be evacuated from Harsil and Badrinath areas, an Army release said. Around 1 lakh stranded people have been rescued so far since the disaster struck the hill state on June 15.

Uttarakhand Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna said people stranded in Harsil and Badrinath areas would be rescued in the next two days if the weather remains conducive to flights and all steps were being taken to prevent epidemic outbreak in the flood-affected regions.