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Cop recounts horror at Kedarnath
254 from M’rashtra missing
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Key announcement likely during India-US Education Dialogue
PM’s daughter honoured for work in human rights law
Cong MP Jindal to be quizzed this week
Mamata turns down CBI report on Nandigram
Road leading to Pak border in Rann of Kutch faces flooding
Four Maoists held in Odisha
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Army officers to tread danger zone
Gauchar, June 23 As helicopters are unlikely to fly over the next two days, the rescuers plan to bring stranded pilgrims down by road. One movement will be down from Harsil, while the other down from Badrinath, both separated west to east by 450 km. Harsil has around 4,000 stranded people, while their number is 6,000 at Badrinath. From Badrinath, people will have to be evacuated to Joshimath. Roads are missing at several places on the Harsil axis. Lt Gen Anil Chait, Central Army Commander, says: "Vehicles are in place from one road head to the other. Mountain paths have been created at places where the road is damaged or is missing. "I will visit the routes and Brigadier-level officers will accompany each group handling people." The Army Commander says people along the routes are being motivated to walk the distance as it will be difficult for helicopters to rescue them. The IAF today flew a number of Mi-17 helicopters evacuating people from Badrinath, bringing their numbers down considerably from 9,000 this morning. A local resident said: "There are more Mi-17 helicopters than buses on the road," implying that helicopters were the saviors and their only link to the outside world. As part of the contingency plan, rain shelters, vehicles, food, medicines and other equipment have been provided at each segment where road is available. The commanders discussed the topography and logistics using a huge map of the region at the base camp. The Army has motivated more than 1,300 people to move on foot and via vehicles along 74-km stretch from Harsil to Uttarkashi. While pilgrims can be evacuated by foot from Badrinath to Gobind Ghat, they can be shifted in vehicles between Gobind Ghat and Joshimath. Teams of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police are carrying out rescue operations between Badrinath and Joshimath. They have set up a Burma bridge across the Alaknanda at Lam Bagar. On the Yamunotri axis, Army teams that had reached Hanuman Chatti yesterday surged towards Janak Chatti and Yamunotri this morning and evacuated all stranded pilgrims there. A C130 J aircraft carried out a weather recce in the morning based on which IAF helicopters started operations in the Harsil sector. Another aircraft carried fuel for the helicopters. Six AN- 32 sorties airlifted equipment for bridge, 50 paratroops with 2,000 kg payload, fuel barrels and two IAF disaster management communication vehicles.
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Cop recounts horror at Kedarnath
Gauchar, June 23 Along with five of his colleagues, Lakshman was stationed at the shrine as part of the routine deployment when the catastrophe occurred. “There were over 10,000 people at the shrine when rain started around 7 pm on June 16. The temple authorities announced that people should take refuge inside the temple and nearby dharamshalas. “The rain continued through the
night and we witnessed a mudslide next morning. The first slush killed some persons. Over 40-50 persons tried
to escape on the night of June 16. “The mudslide did not stop. Everything was under slush. The first help arrived almost 36 hours later when rain stopped. “There can only be estimates of death, it will be difficult to judge how many died. Many could be trapped under the debris or washed away,” he said.
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254 from M’rashtra missing
Mumbai, June 23 “We have so far contacted 2,509 people of the 2,765 from Maharashtra who were at Uttarakhand during the disaster,” Maharashtra PWD Minister. Chhagan Bhujbal said. He added that efforts were on to trace the rest. The number of dead from the state was still being estimated. “People rescued from Uttarakhand are talking of people in their tour group being washed away or dying of the exposure and hunger,” a state government official said. The authorities here are relying on anecdotal evidence from survivors to determine the number of deaths. “The Maharashtra government has deployed two helicopters and a 40-member team to co-ordinate the rescue process," says Idzes
A Kundan, who heads the Disaster Management Cell of the state government. She says 1,564 people from the state who were in Uttarakhand have returned to their homes in
Maharashtra. |
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Key announcement likely during India-US Education Dialogue
New Delhi, June 23 US Secretary of State John Kerry, who arrived here on the second-leg of his 7-nation tour, will take part in the dialogue along with Human Resource Development Minister MM Pallam Raju. Kerry leaves for Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, a day after he and External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid hold the 4th India-US Strategic Dialogue here. The two sides will take up Research and Innovation Partnership under SOKI, Institutional Partnership and Skill Development and promotion of community colleges in India besides technology-enabled education through Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC). IIT - Bombay is entering into an MoU with EDX, that intends students’ mobility from India to the USA and vice-versa with both sides taking up linkage between industry and academia and faculty development, Human Resource Ministry officials said. On his part, Joint Secretary (Americas) Vikram Doraiswami said the focus is to make Indian technical education through institutes — community colleges in the US — train people who get jobs in the industry by directly linking training to the end user.
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PM’s daughter honoured for work in human rights law
New York, June 23 Amrit (43), the youngest daughter of Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, is a senior legal officer for the National Security and Counterterrorism at the New York-based Open Society Justice Initiative. She received the India Abroad Publisher's Special Award for Excellence 2012, at the event organised by 'India Abroad' on Friday to honour Indian-American achievers in a wide range of professions. Amrit's report 'Globalising Torture: CIA Secret Torture and Extraordinary Rendition', published by the Open Society Justice Initiative, received widespread attention in the international media for its close look at the global torture network, after its release in February. — PTI
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Cong MP Jindal to be quizzed this week
New Delhi, June 23 The CBI has registered a case against Jindal, along with the then Minister of State for Coal Dasari Narayan Rao, in this regard.
The searches were completed this Friday when he returned from abroad. A source said that the CBI had decided to question Jindal this week but he refused to give the exact date. According to the FIR, Jindal Steel and Power Limited (JSPL) and Gagan Sponge Iron Limited - firms belonging to Jindal - had bagged Amarkonda Murgadangal coal block in Jharkhand in 2008 by alleged misrepresentation of facts when Rao was the Minister of State for Coal. JSPL had applied for the coal blocks in 2007. These were allocated in January 2008.
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Mamata turns down CBI report on Nandigram
Kolkata, June 23 The state government is dissatisfied that the CBI’s report. The government is of the plea that the report has made three junior police officers ‘scapegoats’, while the main ‘culprits’ have been left untouched. In an affidavit filed in the Calcutta High Court’s division bench on Friday, the state government’s lawyer, Subrata Talukdar pleaded that the CBI order a fresh probe into the case, specially with reference to the then CM’s role, who was also the home minister at the time of the firing. The TMC leader alleged several times that the order to open fire was given from the Writers Buildings at Bhattacharjee’s insistence. The CBI inquiry was ordered suo moto by the high court on March 17 as Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee refused to hand over the case to the agency. Instead, he ordered a CID probe. Buddhadeb was silent on Mamata’s plea for a fresh inquiry. But Left Front chairman Biman Bose strongly reacted to the decision.
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Road leading to Pak border in Rann of Kutch faces flooding
Rann of Kutch (Indo-Pak border), June 23 The problem which has plagued the BSF is a direct result of Pakistan releasing excess water in the Vighokot region (located near the Indo-Pak border) of the Rann of Kutch and the lack of suitable vehicles and other facilities there. The water is released from the canals connected to the Indus river. The floods first took place in 2005 and thereafter have been a regular feature — occurring during the monsoons. The inundation lasts for about a month, forcing the BSF to relocate its troops along the border in the Rann of Kutch where a portion of the 1965 Indo-Pak war was fought. “The inundation damages military structures along the border, cuts the supply line to the troops and reduces mobility,” said AK Sinha, Inspector General of the BSF’s Gujarat Frontier. The inundation on the single road starts from Khavda in Gujarat leading to India Bridge (beyond which the Rann of Kutch starts) and then heads towards the Vighokot region. The BSF has strategically set up a number of border outposts in Vighokot. “The fresh water released from Pakistan becomes saline due to the soil. The salinity creates cracks in our observation posts and corrodes our fences along the border. The roads along the fences also get flooded. There are several patches near the fences where the floodlights have stopped working due to the inundation. Our underground bunkers near the fences also can’t be used,” explained the officer. The floods also reduce the mobility of the troops, who can only be transported to the border areas by all-terrain vehicles (ATVs). An ATV can transport six troops at a time and are capable of being used in any terrain. “But if the ATVs are driven at a high speed, water usually enters the engine’s radiator and damages it,” said a BSF officer. “After the water recedes, some patches of the marshy area turns into quicksand. Luckily, there have been no such instances with our troops,” said another BSF officer. The BSF will soon acquire two hovercrafts, which are air-cushion vehicles that can operate on land, water and any other surface.
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Four Maoists held in Odisha
Malkangiri, June 23 During a joint combing operation by the Special Operation Group, the district voluntary force and local police in Tumukimarka and Kurup forests under the Kalimela area, three ultras were nabbed yesterday, Malkangiri district SP Akhileshwar Singh said. On interrogation, the Maoists named another person who was associated with them and confessed that some tiffin bombs targeting security personnel had been planted in the area, he said, adding that their accomplice was nabbed today. —
PTI
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With rain predicted for tomorrow and day after, the armed forces are set to roll the third phase of the ongoing rescue effort in Uttarakhand tomorrow.
India and the USA are expected to make major announcements, including the second round of Singh-Obama Knowledge Initiative (SOKI) Awards, the first batch of Raman Fellows to conduct post-doctoral research in the US and a “Connect India” Programme for US students to come to India, during the Higher Education Dialogue here on Tuesday.
