|
|
|
|
|
Gen leads historic journey on foot to Gobind Ghat
Kids donate pocket money for the cause
|
|
|
|
Immediate relief of
Rs 20 crore for Darma, Johar valleys
State Cong forms panel
to oversee relief work
Company workers to donate 3
days’ salary
Admn fails to supply relief material to affected people
HIHT to adopt kids of village in Guptkashi
Medical camp at Rudraprayag from June 29
Kin search for missing family members
Food boxes given to desperate people at helipad
Back from Guptkashi, MP says govt must focus on reconstruction
Relatives of missing pilgrims allege mismanagement
|
|
Gen leads historic journey on foot to Gobind Ghat
Dehradun, June 27 Lt Gen Anil Chait, Army Commander, Central Command, accompanied 500 people on what truly is a historic journey by foot from Pandukeshwar to Gobind Ghat. The Army Commander expressed Army’s resolve and solidarity with the people and lauded their courage and efforts to undertake road journey, which is independent of weather. People were pleasantly surprised to see the Commander walking along with them. Evacuation of stranded pilgrims continued from both Badrinath and Harsil. A total of 532 stranded people have been evacuated by air from Harsil, leaving just 100 to 150 locals to be evacuated. With this all pilgrims have been evacuated from Harsil. At least 450 people were evacuated by helicopters from Badrinath today. A total of 900 people set out on foot. While 244 have already reached Joshimath, the balance are on their way and are expected to reach shortly. Evacuation was still on when last reports came in. Evacuation is also on in Pithoragarh district of Kumaon region of Uttarakhand. A total of 100 people were evacuated from isolated and cut-off places and were brought to Dharchula where they were given food, water and medical aid by the Army. Hemkund axis has been totally cleared of all pilgrims. Army veterinary team returned to Joshimath today after providing medical assistance to stranded animals and mules between Gobind Ghat and Ghagria. Animal rations and veterinary medicines were also rushed to Gauri Kund. Army constructed another temporary foot bridge at Sonprayag. More than 8,500 Army personnel and 13 helicopters have been pressed into service. |
|
|
Kids donate pocket money for the cause
Haridwar, June 27 Not only are they helping their teachers and parents in providing food and water to the pilgrims put up at Shantikunj, they are also donating money that they get as pocket money from their parents. Though it may be a little amount but their big heart and concern show their sensitive side. Clay made collection pots have been put up at Shantikunj premises in which these kids are putting their pocket money for the affected people. Class III and IV students Aishwariya, Ahuti, Geetika, Brahmi, Ozhas, Richa, Alankar and Maitrayi who queued up to donate their pocket money after aiding Shantikunj activists at the relief camp. Prageysh, class IV student, said that he had been seeing the visuals in television and reading newspapers about the calamity-struck region of the state regularly. It is quite a good feeling to help the rescued pilgrims and do something for the affected local people in Garhwal. As per Hemant Sahu, Public Relations Officer, Shantikunj,a total of Rs 21,535 has been collected from kids' fund which will be spent for education purpose of the affected children only. Dr Pranav Pandya ,chief of the Akhil Bharatiya Gayatri Parivar, said that elders need to take a leaf out of the contribution of the children. Children are also collecting clothes to be sent to affected children in Garhwal. Shantikunj Disaster Management Department chief Gauri Shankar Sharma told TNS that a relief team led by Dr Ashutosh Pant and Dr Pragh is providing medical aid at Kalimath, Ukhimath, Chandrapurom, Bhairi, Gangapur, Korwa, Dal Choyaji, Timara Sansari and other villages for the past three days in which more than a thousand people have been given medicines. |
|
|
Immediate relief of
Rs 20 crore for Darma, Johar valleys
Pithoragarh, June 27 During his brief stay at Dharchula, the Chief Minister did an aerial survey of the disaster-hit Darma valley. He told officials that proposals to construct check dams in villages situated near the banks the Kali Gori and Dhauli rivers be prepared at the earliest. The Chief Minister also talked to the disaster- affected villagers and announced that a special financial package would be given to re-establish completely damaged New Sobla, Kanchoti and Suva villages. Last evening, Bahuguna had toured parts of Bageshwar and announced a sum of Rs 11 crore for the disaster-hit villagers of Kapkot subdivision. |
|
|
State Cong forms panel
to oversee relief work
Dehradun, June 27 Disclosing this at a press conference in Dehradun yesterday, state Congress general secretary Vijay Saraswat said a 22-member committee would be headed by Uttarakhand Congress president Yashpal Arya. The members include Suryakant Dhasmana, Dhirendra Pratap, Bhramswaroop Brahmachari, Kedar Singh Rawat, Joth Singh Bisht, Ram Prasad Tamta, Santosh Chauhan, Harendra Singh Ladi, Sunder Lal Muyal, Chowdhary Mahendra Singh, Gulab Singh, Vimla Sajwan, Pushkar Durgapal, Khushal Adhikari, Praveen Bhandari, Bhopal Singh Bhakuni, Balbir Singh Rawat, Maqbul Qureshi, Vijay Lakshmi Gusain, Ram Sharan Nauityal and Manishi Tiwari. Saraswat said the committee would review the relief and rescue works done so far and discuss the relief plan for future. He informed that a total of 75 trucks comprising relief material that had been flagged off by UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi in Delhi had reached Rishikesh.
|
|
|
Company workers to donate 3
days’ salary
Dehradun, June 27 The company is donating an amount equivalent to three days’ salary of all Bombardier Transportation India white-collar employees directly to the Prime Minister National Relief Fund. Bombardier has also requested its employees in India to support the affected people by donating key items like food, medicines, utensils, toiletries, books and stationery items. Benoit Cattin-Martel, Managing Director of Bombardier Transportation India, said, “As a responsible
corporate citizen, Bombardier is committed to contribute to local communities and well being of their members. Each contribution, however small, will help a larger cause and particularly the flood victims in Uttarakhand.”
|
|
|
Admn fails to supply relief material to affected people
Pithoragarh, June 27 According to people involved in the relief work in the district, about 15 truckloads of relief material have reached the district but due to lack of proper distribution arrangements relief packets are lying in the Nagar Palika Parishad hall. “We have collected the material sent by SIDCUL, the Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee, Sitarganj, the Mandi Parishad, Udham Singh Nagar, and traders’ associations of Udham Singh Nagar and Nainital, besides contributions made by local residents,” said a Pithoragarh Nagar Palika Parishad member. “Relief material is not reaching the victims of rain fury in the Darma valley. Most of the trucks carrying material being sent by private organisations are not in a position to proceed towards Baluakot as the road beyond is fully damaged,” said a district administration source. The local Aapda Rahat Samiti has collected three truckloads of relief material and Rs 2.5 lakh but it has not been able to distribute it among the affected people in Chifaltara, Jauljibi and Nai Basti villages of Dharchula subdivision. “Despite our repeated efforts to arrange a helicopter to lift the relief material to higher altitude villages of the Darma valley, the administration has not made any attempt to help us,” said Namrata Bora, coordinator of the samiti. ITBP officers running the relief operation in the disaster-hit areas of the district have agreed to lift the relief material being donated by private organizations. They said private relief material would be lifted on priority, according to the needs of the affected people. “We have already sent over 12 quintals of relief material to the Johar and Darma valleys and are waiting for good weather to prevail to lift more material, vegetables and clothes to the affected people in the Darma and Johar valleys,” said BS Martolia, ITBP officer. Besides various organisations in the Terai and adjoining areas, political parties, including the Congress and the BJP, and the RSS are also collecting relief material for distribution among the affected people. “We have developed our own chain for distribution of material collected by our workers as the district administration is not able to clear the way for sending relief to the affected people in the remote Darma and Johar valleys,” said KD Joshi, an RSS organiser in the Kumaon division. |
|
|
HIHT to adopt kids of village in Guptkashi
Dehradun, June 27 Announcing this today, Vijay Dhasmana Director HIHT said large percentage of the women in Lambgondi village whose husbands worked as pujaris in Kedarnath perished in the rains. “We will provide for the education of these children till 10+2. In case they want to take up the occupation of priests, that too would be provided for,” said Dhasmana. He said that under it’s outreach programme, they would also launch development activity in the villages of Bhyundar and Pulna that have been devastated in these floods. He said the HIHT would endeavour to provide health and education facilities to the villagers. “We had provided water facilities in 165 villages in Uttarakhand. These villages are again facing problems as the water pipe connections have snapped in around 28 villages . We will again adopt these villages,” he said. Dhasmana said that immediate steps should be taken to dispose of the rotting bodies. “There is a real fear of an endemic breaking out. Focus should be on to identify bodies and dispose of them,” he said. He said the hospital had provided 2,000 DNA kits for undertaking samples of dead bodies in Kedarnath and
Guptkashi. |
|
|
Medical camp at Rudraprayag from June 29
Haridwar, June 27 A special medical team will be sent to manage the camp in disaster affected Rudraprayag district. Initially, the camp will for a week but the hospital trustees will review the situation to extend its duration taking into account the loss of life and threat of break out of epidemics. Free medicines and treatment will be provided at the camp. The Aadi Shakti Maa Bhuvneshari Mission has also extended support by providing volunteers and relief material for the disaster affected areas.
|
|
|
Kin search for missing family members
Dehradun, June 27 The photographs of the victims have been displayed at the centre to help visitors identity their kin. SSP Kewal Khurana and other senior police officials have been camping at the centre to supervise the activities. Police officials have also made arrangements for food and accommodation for the kin of the victims. All rescued pilgrims are being brought to Jolly Grant Airport and Sahastradhara airstrip in Dehradun. The police has also made elaborate arrangements to take the injured victims to various hospitals in Dehradun for treatment. Police personnel are camping at Jolly Grant Airport and Sahastradhara airstrip to ferry the injured victims.
|
|
|
Food boxes given to desperate people at helipad
Dehradun, June 27 People talked in hushed tones that all the melodrama was created
to profit owner of the restaurant who is well known for his political connections. The Congressmen
who created chaos and fought with police giving them choicest of abuses for removing the volunteers and not
providing food to people at the helipad and boasted of arranging food stalls themselves did nothing today. They could be seen giving water from their stall only. Monetary aid for rescued pilgrims As per the official press release, around 67 stranded pilgrims were rescued from Badrinath, Joshimath, Gauchar, Harsil and Bhatwadi and brought to the Sahastardhara helipad yesterday. They were distributed Rs 1,34,000 relief amount. Around 473 persons rescued from the affected areas of Chamoli and Josimath were brought at Bhadrakali Rishikesh. They belonged to Rajasthan, Bihar, Uttar Pardesh and Madhya Pardesh and were given Rs 9.46 lakh to reach their destinations. Four victims were rescued at Jolly Grant, where Shanti Devi of Uttarkashi died at Himalaya Hospital. A sum of Rs 8,000 was released to them. The district administration distributed Rs 1 lakh among 50 pilgrims brought at Jolly Grant airport. Relief material has been sent for Dharasu and Gauchar in three helicopters. Around 28 vehicles were sent to Rudraprayag, Dharasu, Guptkashi, Karnprayag and Uttarakashi with relief material. |
|
|
Back from Guptkashi, MP says govt must focus on reconstruction
Dehradun, June 27 He said that with monsoon having started and the winter beginning immediately after the festive season, the time for planning and executing the first phase was too short. “We shouldn’t feel shy to seek expert help from friendly countries like Japan, Germany and Israel also to plan the gigantic work and start it competently,” he said. Tarun Vijay had a detailed discussion on relief work in Uttarakhand with Cabinet Secretary Ajit Seth yesterday. He said relief material was pouring in from all parts of India, but there was none in the flood-devastated region to distribute it appropriately. Unless the state government set up a mechanism to distribute the relief material, the entire efforts would go waste. He said hundreds of trucks loaded with all sorts of relief material, food and clothes were waiting to reach Guptkashi, but there was no direction from the state government. Tarun Vijay said the focus should also be on helping the local villagers who had suffered immensely as almost every home in Guptkashi and Ukhimath had lost someone in the family and their future was enveloped in darkness. They are feeling acute hardship as roads to these areas are still unreliable and supplies of food and vegetables had reduced to almost a trickle. |
|
|
Relatives of missing pilgrims allege mismanagement
Dehradun, June 27 Om Prakash, native of Jaipur, said his family members and relatives, numbering 104, had left for Kedarnath. Out of these only 30 reached home, while 10 had died. He does not know about the fate of the rest. He said: “Names of some members of my family are in the list of the rescued people. But if they had been rescued, why did they not they reach home?” He said his wife back home saw her father-in-law among those evacuated at a news channel and quickly uploaded that on Youtube. But he was unable to decipher in which rescue camp he was staying. He complained that there was no foolproof system to tell from where the evacuated pilgrims left for their homes and the mode of transportation . Neither was the list of rescue camps was shared with those waiting for family members. Youngster Kshitij Mohan Gupta, who came from Kannauj, Uttar Pardesh, looking for four women in his family, said: “In this age of communication, it is not difficult to prepare data about the pilgrims being rescued at each spot along with their photographs and also the places where they were left for their homes. The collective information could be provided and constantly updated at each such place where the family members and acquaintances were searching for their relatives.'' The women of his family had gone with another group of acquaintances for Char Dham Yatra in Uttarakhand. Some of the group members returned but these four did not return. Another person, Vijay Verma, showed the photograph of rescued pilgrims being taken in a bus in which his father could be seen sitting. He said his father did not return home, and police was unable to provide him the registration number of the bus. |
|
| HOME PAGE | |
Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir |
Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs |
Nation | Opinions | | Business | Sports | World | Letters | Chandigarh | Ludhiana | Delhi | | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Classified | E-mail | |
It was a fine example of leadership, dedication and commitment towards the people in distress shown by Lt. Gen Anil Chait, GOC-in-C, Central Command, when he walked along with people moving on foot from Badrinath to
Joshimath.
Children studying in Shantikunj-run Gayatri Vidyapeeth are showing their concern for the natural calamity-affected people in
Uttarakhand.
Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna today announced an immediate relief of Rs 20 crore for the disaster-hit victims of Darma and Johar valleys of the district
He has directed officials to distribute relief material and medicines in disaster-prone villages on a priority basis.
The despair among those who have been pinning hopes to see their family members again is rising day by day, thanks to mismanagement at various levels in rescue operations. They are now quite miffed and have begun venting out their anger.
