BJP: Govt failed to arrange fuel for choppers on rescue service
Pithoragarh, June 21
BJP leaders have alleged that the government has failed to deliver relief packets in disaster-hit areas of the district as it could not arrange fuel for the helicopters which were pressed into service for dropping relief packets or evacuating stranded villagers.

Declare devastation by rains as national disaster: Panwar
Dehradun, June 21
President of the Uttarakhand Kranti Dal (Panwar) Trivender Singh Panwar today demanded that the devastation caused by rains and flashfloods in the state be declared a national disaster. 

Modi in Dehradun
Dehradun, June 21
Gujarat Chief Minister Narender Modi today reached Dehradun in the evening. He plans to visit the disaster-affected areas by helicopter on Saturday. Modi said he plans to land whereever possible to interact with stranded pilgrims.

Haridwar, June 21
Forty-eight bodies of pilgrims and local people washed away in the flash floods caused by heavy rains and a cloudburst in the Kedar valley in Chamoli and Rudraprayag districts a few days ago have been recovered in lower reaches of Haridwar.

One of the victims, Dinesh Singh, son of Malkash Singh and resident of Vyaoli in Badaun in Uttar Pradesh, was identified from the physically handicapped certificate found from his pocket that was issued by the Budaun CMO.

While the administration is facing problems in identifying the deceased, it is being assumed that these bodies are of the pilgrims and the local people who were killed in the calamity. District Magistrate, Haridwar, Nidhi Pandey confirmed to The Tribune that 30 bodies had been found in Haridwar and Rishikesh while 12 were found in Lakshar. The number of bodies is likely to increase as police teams have fanned out to all directions and keeping a vigil on the banks of the Ganga, particularly on the Neel Dhara and Chandi Ghat stretch.

The swollen bodies can be seen stuck in barrages and embankments of the Ganga. As the bodies recovered are mutilated and their identification not possible, the district administration is facing a tough task to give any information about these to the concerned relatives.

The bodies found are being shifted to the district hospital for a post-mortem and fingerprints and DNA samples are being taken for future identification.

A high-level meeting of administration officers chaired by the District Magistrate was held this evening to discuss the issue of the bodies of pilgrims killed in the natural calamity being found in the Ganga.

SSP, Haridwar, Rajeev Swaroop told The Tribune that 48 bodies had been spotted in Haridwar till the evening. These bodies were likely to be of the killed pilgrims and had flown down from upper reaches of the Garhwal division. This number was likely to increase.

Swaroop said a control room had been set up at the City Control Room and documents, photographs and other information regarding the bodies were being provided there.

Relatives and near ones of the missing pilgrims could contact the CCR where a round-the-clock helpline desk was available for the people.

SP, City, Jagdeesh Singh Bhandari said police personnel were keeping an eye on the Chandighat Bridge (Indira Gandhi Setu) and Chaudhari Charan Bhimgoda Barrage.

Two bodies were yesterday found at the Chilla canal falling in the Rajaji National Park situated on the border of Pauri Garhwal and Haridwar district.

In Lakshar tehsil, four bodies of a woman, a child and two men were found stuck in embankments of the Ganga. As the flow of the river is quite fast, police personnel had a tough time in retrieving these from the embankments.

The District Magistrate office said more than 1,000 animals were washed away in the flash floods in the Gaindikhata area of Haridwar. Village head Isha Devi has sought a monetary relief from the District Magistrate in this regard.

The District Magistrate said, “Forty-eight bodies have been found in Haridwar during the past few days. These have flown down from the upper reaches of Garhwal where the natural calamity had struck. As it is not easy to identify the bodies, we are taking fingerprints and DNA samples so that family members of the deceased can identify them later.” 

Haridwar, June 21
Yoga guru Ramdev has attributed the occurrence of natural calamities like cloudbursts, landslides and floods in the hilly regions of Uttarakhand to the construction of hydropower projects.

Flagging off relief material collected by Patanjali Yogpeeth in Haridwar, Ramdev said it was the time to ponder on other feasible and natural resources to generate power.

He said if hydropower projects were sanctioned with the same pace, natural disasters would occur frequently in the state.

He urged people to contribute to the relief aid and fund. Ramdev said Patanjali Yogpeeth was also sending a volunteer group of youths to the disaster-hit regions of Chamoli, Uttarkashi, Rudraprayag, Tehri and Pauri Garhwal.

Earlier, Patanjali Yogpeeth had sent biscuits, water bottles and processed food items to the affected areas.

Uttarakhand Research Institute founder Hari Narayan Joshi said the recent natural calamity was an indication of "negative and ill-effects of so-called development being done in hill areas".

Pithoragarh, June 21
BJP leaders have alleged that the government has failed to deliver relief packets in disaster-hit areas of the district as it could not arrange fuel for the helicopters which were pressed into service for dropping relief packets or evacuating stranded villagers.

Leader of Opposition in state assembly Ajay Bhatt and BJP general secretary Prakash Pant, who toured remote parts of disaster-hit area of the district said after reaching at Naini Saini Airstrip that whereas food packets are dumped at the airstrip due to lack of fuel, stranded villagers at Darma and Johar Valleys are waiting these desperately. “ we show entire Madkot market has wiped out into the River Gori and migrating villagers are trapped at various places in Johar Valley as the relief and rescue teams could not reach them till date despite four days past of the rain fury.” said Ajay Bhatt.

According to district administration, the air fuel which is fetched from Army depot at Allahabad for these helicopters based at Bareilly was likely to reach the district by last evening.

“We will have full capacity of sorties to remote areas only after four Army helicopters get fuel at the cost of state government.” said a district administration spokesman.

According to some reporters who visited the relief camps after crossing through tracks today, the incumbents in these relief camps are suffering from shortage of drinking water and fuel shortages as the water sources have gone muddy and LPG cylinders have been swept away in the over flown rivers in these areas on the disaster day.

“At Sumdung and Baluakot camps we have find the villagers without government relief packages even on fourth day of disaster today, and the women folks in these camps are struggling to fetch drinking water from a distance of four to five km from the camp.” said Sanju Pant, a reporter, based at Didihat, who visited these camps today.

According to the sources, the villagers of Sipu and Naya Basti Villages of Dharchula subdivision, want their houses made wholly constructed by the government as they have lost everything in that fury. “We have lost not only house but our gold ornaments and personel belongings in that rain and are not in condition to construct new home out of partial government assistance.” said Aasha Sepal, a villager from Sipu Village near Baluakot town of Dharchula subdivision.

Dehradun, June 21
President of the Uttarakhand Kranti Dal (Panwar) Trivender Singh Panwar today demanded that the devastation caused by rains and flashfloods in the state be declared a national disaster. He said President’s rule be imposed in the state by dissolving the present state Assembly so that the funds released by the Centre and other agencies could be used honestly for disaster relief work. Panwar said this while addressing mediapersons in the city. He said while there was a possibility that the death toll may touch 20,000 the state government was trying to playing down the casualties by showing less figures. He added in Gaurikund alone 5,000 ponies, their owners and 8,000 pilgrims had gone missing. Around 5,000 pilgrims, priests, hotel owners and their employees died instantly in Kedarnath. Those who survived were not getting relief.

Panwar said the state government did not seem to exist anywhere in the calamity-stricken state. It was the Army, the Indian Air Force and the ITBP which were doing real work to rescue the stranded pilgrims from difficult terrains.

Dehradun, June 21
District Magistrate (DM) BVRC Purushottam said as many as 229 pilgrims were safely evacuated from the calamity-struck zones and brought to the Jolly Grant Airport safely.

Among the pilgrims, eight are in a serious condition and have been admitted to the Himalayan Hospital, Jolly Grant.

He said around 31,300 packets of food, 100 containers of biscuits, 85 packets of bread, 900 packets of namkeen, 75 packets of butter, 100 packets of snacks, five containers of juice and 161 containers of water were sent to the victims trapped in the disaster-hit areas. Besides, jawans of the Army and the NDRF had been flown to provide relief to the victims.

The DM said relief packages had been contributed by various NGO's for the victims. He appealed to the NGOs’ to contact the district administration for the disbursement of relief material among the victims.

He said the motor road for Ghansali tehsil was now open for movement so NGO's could send the relief consignments through this road.

Besides Purushottam, general manager (commercial), Garhwal Mandal Vikas Nigam Pratap Shah, additional district magistrate (Finance) Jharna Kamthan, district forest officer Sushant Patnaik, sub-division magistrate Rishikesh Ramji Sharan, danchayat Adhikari MM Khan, district supply officer Shayam Arya, district information officer Ajay Mohan Saklani and other officers were present.

Dehradun, June 21
A book titled ‘Ecology Is The Permanent Economy’ on the life and works of noted environmentalist Sunder Lal Bahuguna and written by George Alfred James, eminent writer and Associate Professor of philosophy and religion studies at North Texas University was released at a function held here today.

The book explores the non-violent philosophy and environmental activism of Sunder Lal Bahuguna. In the book, James has highlighted Bahuguna’s activism for environment and his philosophy of non-violence.

James told the mediapersons that he was inspired to write a book on Sunder Lal Bahuguna due to his activism in protecting and preserving environment. Another reason behind writing this book was that James started taking interest in the Indian Philosophy and opted the study of environment by means of Indian Philosophy , religion, custom and traditions. In this manner Bahuguna was the most genuine and devoted activist.

Dr Anil Parkash Joshi, founder of Himalayan Environmentalist Studies and Conservation Organisation (HESCO) also highlighted various facets of Sunder Lal Bahuguna’s life. He said in the light of recent natural disaster it was all the more important to imbibe the spirit being propogated by Sunder Lal Bahuguna to preserve environment.

Speaking on the occasion, Sunder Lal Bahuguna said that nature is a like a mother, which feeds its children with her milk but in return humans should not suck her blood by over exploitation of natural resources. 

Dehradun, June 21
The buzz of the helicopters at the Aerodrome in Sahastdhara brought good cheer to the relatives of stranded pilgrims and tourists while others hoping to meet their loved ones were left disappointed today.

The first to arrive were Shradha Tomar from Morena (Madhya Pradesh) along with her son Yuvraj and Nandia who had walked 12 km from Gangotri after they were told that the routes had blocked due to the floods.

“It was a nightmare for all of us as we negotiated our way through landslides and broken trees. On the way, there was no help, but we trekked all the way to Harsil after people told us that some arrangements had been made. We were lucky to be rescued by the helicopter,” Shradha said.

Sonali Vats hailing from Gwalior too found a place in the helicopter along with Nirmala Devi from Haryana. Interestingly the three awaited for the arrival of their husbands and relatives as all of them could not be accommodated in the Helicopter.

But Rita Gandhi and Ketan Gandhi and Malti Gandhi and Girish Gandhi from Surat who were also evacuated from Harsil heaved a sigh of relief as they managed to find a place together in the helicopter.

“We had come with a 60-member group for the Char Dham Yatra, but after having paid obeisance at the Yamnotri Dham, we got stuck at Gangotri. Several members of our group are still left behind,” Ketan Gandhi said.

While these couple did not have problem in finding accommodation in Dehradun as the MLA from Mussoorie, Ganesh Joshi, offered to take them to his home, but the three women who had reached Dehradun without their spouses were at their wits end about their likely course of action.

Happily for them Ajay Tyagi, NS Negi, BS Mehta, and RS Palani came to their rescue and offered to make arrangements for them.

“The government should have made arrangements for these people who were still waiting for their family members at the guest houses. But the government has not paid any attention,” Joshi said.

Meanwhile, Dinesh Berry from Ludhiana was a disappointed man as none of his relatives arrived today. “My relatives Sandeep Salwan, Mitu, Meenu and Sarvesh had come on the Char dham Yatra but we had last contacted them through the telephone in Gaurikund. We are still looking for them,” said Berry who was at the Sahastdhara aerodrome.

Meanwhile, Satish Sharma, a member of Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee, who has been looking for his relatives lost his cool as Cabinet Minister Yashpal Arya had arrived at the aerodrome. He accused the government for doing nothing and said that the Congress would lose the goodwill of the people.

But caring two hoots for the sentiments of the people the Minister left for Gauchar along with Health Minister Surinder Singh Negi and Rawal of Kedarnath.

Similar scenes were also witnessed outside the Jolly Grant Airport where the desperate relatives blocked the traffic for lack of information.

Dehradun, June 21
The president of Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), Praveen Togadia, said volunteers of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad would provide free fares to the stranded tourists and pilgrims for their homeward journey.

At a press conference today, Praveen Togadia said the VHP would contribute Rs 2,500 towards the fares, “We have started the process of stationing our people at the bus stands and railway stations for providing fares,” he said.

He said a Hindu helpline for missing persons 0206680330 had been set up for tracing missing and stranded persons.

Togadia said he had asked the Hindus to adopt devastated villages in Uttarakhand so that these could be rebuilt.