Dehradun, July 2
The mammoth multi-agency rescue operations to evacuate all stranded pilgrims and tourists in the flood-ravaged Uttarakhand concluded on Tuesday with a group of 155 persons being evacuated from Badrinath. In all, around 1.1 lakh people — stranded due to flash floods and landslides after monsoon rains pounded the hill state on June 15 — were evacuated by joint teams of the Army, Indian Air Force, Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) and National Disaster Response Force (NDRF).

"A total of 155 persons were evacuated today from Badrinath. Now for all intent and purpose, the evacuation of stranded pilgrims and tourists in Badrinath is complete. Now some locals remain there and they would be airlifted tomorrow," said Chief Secretary Subash Kumar.

Kumar said the state government has intensified operations to air-drop food packets in the areas that still remain cut off. "In Rudraprayag, copters made 31 sorties and 1,100 food packets were dropped," he said. The Chief Secretary said sorties were undertaken in Munsiyari and Dharchula districts of Pithoragarh for air-lifting stranded locals.

Though the rescue mission has concluded, the authorities faced a daunting task of cremation of badly decomposed bodies in Kedarnath area with bad weather hampering the process. Another challenge is removing tonnes of debris from the shrine premises in Kedarnath as there are no roads to transport heavy equipment such as JCBs there for the purpose, Uttarakhand DGP Satyavrat Bansal said.

Bansal said the process of cremating bodies in Kedarnath could not resume even today. "A team of health experts and trained police personnel has been despatched to the shrine but the exercise could not begin due to bad weather," he added. Bansal admitted that disposal of bodies is an uphill task due to a variety of factors including bad weather and breached roads.

The Chief Secretary said steps have also been taken on a war-footing to restore water, power and road connectivity in the state. Of the total 968 drinking water connections that were damaged in the floods, 838 have been restored temporarily and 130 would be restored by July 10. "The road network has suffered maximum damage in Pithoragarh, Chamoli and Rudraprayag districts. As many as 5,000 labourers and some JCB machines have been sent for repairing these roads," he said.

"The power supply has been restored in 3,518 hamlets. In some areas of Chamoli, Uttarkashi, Rudraprayag and Tehri, it will take some time to restore the supply," said Kumar. The Chief Secretary said the District Magistrates were making a complete assessment of the damage to private property.