Lack of trained persons, poor resources worsened matters
Shaurya Karanbir Gurung
Tribune News Service

Chinyali Saur (Uttarakhand), July 1
Non-existent standard operating procedures for disaster management, lack of trained personnel and inadequate resources mark the functioning of the local administration in Uttarkashi district of Uttarakhand. This is even after the floods that took place this year, last year near Gangotri and in 2010 near Dharasu (6 km away from Chinyali Saur), according to the locals. Opinions of the victims The Tribune spoke with, local administration and the police involved in the rescue operations converge at the point that better preparedness could have lessened deaths and shortened the time of rescue operations.

The local administration asserts that there is no organisation of the pilgrims travelling to the char dhams (four shrines) - Yamunotri, Gangotri, Kedarnath and Badrinath - in Uttarakhand. "There are several check posts on the routes of the religious journey to the four dhams. But neither is there any checking of the pilgrims coming in nor is there a registration system. As a result, we don't know how many bodies have been washed away by the floods or how many pilgrims were killed," said a local administration official.

The police is the first responders to an emergency. "Although we have enough manpower, what we lack in is resources to handle a disaster. We don't even have boats to rescue victims from the flood waters. There are about 16 life-saving boats stationed at Haridwar. They were bought six years ago and have not been used until now," said a police officer, who was part of the rescue operations.

He added that the local police stations don't even have basic facilities such as food, water and medicines to supply to the victims during disasters such as the floods. "The floods are a regular feature of Uttarakhand. Although the government is aware, it has not given us any disaster management budget and facilities. There are several instances when pilgrims have slipped and fallen into a river. Our local police stations don't even have boats to go and rescue them," admitted the officer.

Surinder Singh Rana, the Nayab Tehsildar of Chinyali Saur, where Indian Air Force choppers take off to rescue people from Harsil, claims that there is basic equipment such as life-jackets and ropes for climbing hills. "But there are no trained personnel to use them. There is no one who can climb mountains in cases of floods to rescue people. We have no operating procedure to follow in times of disasters," he claims.

The Uttarakhand disaster management teams located in its several districts don't even have vehicles for transporting them to disaster-affected areas. “They borrow vehicles from either the police or the local administration,” said a local administration official.

Along with the floods, comes the problems of broken roads. The local administration official claimed that a road leading from Chinyali Saur to Dharasu to a village named as Jogat is broken. There are 40 villages located along this road that have been cut off due to the floods that took place this year. "As a result, we can't send rations and medicines from Chinyali. There is another road from Chinyali that meets with a road coming from Jogat. On this road there is the 40-m long Devi Saur 'pull' going over the Tehri dam, but it has become weak. Every year, the rise in the water level of the Tehri dam submerges this 'pull' for four months. It has not happened until now. But only light vehicles can ply over the pull," he said.

The official added that the government had given money to renovate the ‘pull’, but the work had not started.

State was least prepared

Following the disaster, the police and the local administration fear the delay in the restoration of the roads. “The 100-km road from Uttarkashi to Gangotri has been either washed away or broken due to landslides at several places. Due to the floods several cars are stuck on the roads. In Dharali, a village located between Gangotri and Harsil, the cars are submerged in mud. These vehicles mostly belong to the locals and some to the people who arrived at Uttarakhand from nearby areas such as Delhi. The police chowkee in charge at Gangotri had asked people to give the petrol of their cars to an excavator. The excavator belonging to a private contractor was then used to open the road for pedestrians from Gangotri to Harsil. More than 500 victims had reached Harsil this way,” said the police officer.

He claimed that on the road between Gangotri and Jhalla (near Harsil), there are about 350 buses and cars just standing on the road. In the coming months, the authorities might be able to identify the local vehicles, but it will be a mammoth task to identify the cars belonging to the pilgrims, as there is no registeration. 

Central package may be enhanced: Jairam Ramesh
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, July 1
In a bid to provide relief to the people of Uttarakhand devastated by the floods, Union Minister for Rural Development Jairam Ramesh today said that the Central Government may raise the grant from the existing Rs 1,000 crore to Rs 3000 crore.

“A team from the Union Finance Department and representatives from the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank would be shortly coming to the state and based on their assessment, the Central grant may be raised from Rs 1,000 crore to Rs 3000 crore,” said Jairam Ramesh at a press conference.

The Union Rural Development Minister also announced relaxation in norms under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) for the flood-ravaged state. “The scheme provides a legal guarantee for at least 100 days of employment but for drought areas we have introduced a 150-day employment guarantee, but no provisions were made for the flood- affected regions. The ministry has decided to extend the 150 days' work guarantee norm for Uttarakhand,” he said.

The minister also said that the department would also revise the labour budget under MGNREGS for the state and raise it to Rs 700 crore.

The ministry has also announced increasing the number of houses under Indira Avas Yojana for BPL families and also giving additional rural roads under Prime Minister Gramin Sadak Yojana (PMGSY).

“Considering the extensive damage to houses of the poor in the villages of Uttarakhand, 14,000 additional homes for BPL card holders would be built under Indira Avas Yojana and around 500 km-600 km roads under PMGSY,” he said.

Further, the minister also said that the issue of shifting 238 villages requiring immediate rehabilitation brought forward by Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna, too, would be taken up by the Central Government.

No local support for cremation of bodies at Rambara, Kedarnath
Neena Sharma
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, July 1
It is now emerging that with no local support forthcoming for assisting in the cremation of bodies at Rambara and Kedarnath, the Uttarakhand government had even contacted Gujarat NGO Surat Ekta Trust but the guidelines framed by National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), clearly outlining that the responsibility of disposing of and retrieving of the bodes rests with the state government, forced it to retract it’s steps.

Sources claim that there are around 200 bodies visible on the ground in Kedarnath that have to be cremated. Earlier the weather was being touted as one of the reasons for delayed cremation but sources claim the non-availability of people to assist in cremation was posing problems.

With limited logistic support, now a team of 200 people who have now been sent to Kedarnath comprise 10 safai karamcharis requisitioned from Haridwar and Uttar Pradesh. The government has also requisitioned the services of Dr Diwender Kumar, forensic expert from the Centre for DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostic (CDFD), Hyderabad. A team of 10 doctors from Uttarakhand is also part of this team.

“So far 56 cremations have been undertaken and we hope to complete the process by July 10, but the problem of extricating bodies buried under the boulders and debris would take time. Further, the identification process through matching of DNA samples with relatives, too, could take years,” said Om Prakash, Principal Secretary, Home.

A total of 10 DNA samples have also been taken which would be used for matching the samples.

Further, a team comprising 20 jawans from National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) is expected to assist the state government team for retrieving the bodies still buried under the debris in Kedarnath.

Belying claims of large number of bodies lying in Kedarnath and Rambara, according to government estimates, no more than 78 bodies are lying in Rambara that have to be cremated, and similarly the government estimates suggest that around 500 bodies could be buried in the debris in Kedarnath.

Further, the government is awaiting the PWD to build the road from Gaurikund to Rambara so that wood could reach Rambara for cremation.

Most relief work done by security forces; admn total failure: ABVP
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, July 1
Members of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) today submitted a memorandum for the Governor to District Magistrate with regard to relief measures in the areas hit by disaster. Vice-president Ramakant Shrivastav said most of the relief work was conducted by Army, Air Force, ITBP and NDRF, while the district administrations totally failed in doing their duties. The disaster management of local administration was in a pitiable state and they lacked mutual coordination with each other

He said many social organisations and NGOs were keen to participate in the relief programme but the state government was deliberately trying to discourage them. He said the state government must take help of these organisations in supplying relief material to far-flung areas.

Shrivastav said that the local public required urgent rescue, relief and rehabilitation. He said ABVP was prepared to provide all possible help to them. He said contagious diseases could spread in the disaster-affected areas as bodies of human beings and carcasses of dead animals were lying in the open and decaying. He rued the fact that the state did not have medical facilities to deal with such a situation.

Keeping in view the widespread disaster, he said the students studying in schools, colleges and various other academic institutions would not be able to take admissions in their next classes in time. The state government should arrange for their fee and extend admission date so that the students of the disaster-hit areas could also take admissions and not lag behind by losing precious year of academic session.

He said the damaged roads were posing the biggest problem in carrying out relief and rescue works and stressed on the need to repair them urgently so that the relief supply could be sent to the affected people.

With woman co-pilot, Cheetah made 72 landings to evacuate 80 pilgrims
Vijay Mohan
Tribune News Service

Rishikesh, July 1
At the peak of the rescue operations, an IAF Cheetah made 72 landings in just about three hours to evacuate over 80 stranded pilgrims from high altitude flood-hit areas in the Badrinath sector, creating a record of sorts. Perhaps never before has a helicopter the size of a Cheetah undertaken so many shuttles in so short a time and ferried so many persons.

“It was our second day of the operations at Gauchar when we were tasked with the sortie,” Squadron Leader Vipin Takawale, the chopper pilot, said. “We were to evacuate people in ones or twos from Jungle Chetti at an altitude of 8,500 feet where larger helicopters could not reach, to Gaurikund at lower altitude from where bigger machines like the Dhruv or Mi-8 would take over,” he added. Besides the aircrew, the single-engine Cheetah has the capability to carry just two or three persons, depending upon the payload and altitude.

With Takawale on this sortie was his co-pilot, Squadron Leader Khushboo Gupta, one of the two women pilots deployed for rescue missions. Hailing from Delhi, she has about six years of flying experience in the Indian Air Force (IAF). Both are posted with the 131 FAC Flight of the IAF at the Hindon airbase. Khushboo’s husband is Mi-8 helicopter pilot and is also deployed at the same airbase for the rescue operations.

It was about noon when they took off on their mercy mission. It was Takawale’s second sortie in the area since his arrival the day before. Over the next three hours, he and Khushboo undertook 37 shuttles of about 3-4 minutes each, picking up the stranded people from 8,500 feet and depositing them at a larger helipad at 6,000 feet.
“We were still getting used to the area. Besides the high altitude, we were operating in a very restricted area and flying from makeshift helipads in places where there would have been no helipads under normal circumstances,” Takawale said. Besides challenges faced due to the terrain and weather, there was a lot of air traffic in the vicinity, requiring a very high degree of airmanship.

Just a day before, barely an hour after reaching Gauchar, Takawale, who hails from Nagpur and has spent over 12 years with the IAF, had tasked with the rescue operation the pilot of a civilian helicopter that had crashed in that area. The downed pilot had to be evacuated by using a winch to pull him up. His co-pilot on his maiden sortie in the region was a rookie pilot, who has just been commissioned. “There were trees and high tension cables all around that had to be taken care of,” he said. “Besides, it is extremely rare to carry out winching operations at that altitude,” he added. 

We were to evacuate people in ones or twos from Jungle Chetti, at an altitude of 8,500 feet, where larger helicopters could not reach, to Gaurikund at lower altitude from where bigger machines like the Dhruv or Mi-8 would take over. We were still getting used to the area. Besides the high altitude, we were operating in a very restricted area and flying from makeshift helipads in places where there would have been no helipads under normal circumstances.
— Sqdn Ldr Vipin Takawale, Cheetah pilot

Mussoorie MLA flays govt for ‘shoddy’ disaster management
Our Correspondent

Mussoorie, July 1
MLA, Mussoorie, Ganesh Joshi from BJP, attacking the Congress-led state government and its ministers for shoddy disaster management, said that most of the ministers, including the CM, instead of providing healing touch to the victims of the natural disaster, which led to large-scale devastation, were busy with only aerial surveys and not with actual rescue work.

Joshi told mediapersons in Mussoorie that the non-chalant attitude of the Congress ministers and leaders could be gauged from the fact that many were seen shaving their heads and mustaches just to be in the limelight, while the Indian Armed Forces was diligently working to evacuate the victims from Kedarnath and Uttarkashi.

Joshi also alleged that Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna himself failed to visit many such places where people were living in immense suffering. “The Chief Minister was facing disaster from two sides, one natural and other from his Opposition camp in the Congress, which affected disaster management work in the state. Otherwise, several lives could have been saved,” said Joshi.

He added that the monitoring of the whole situation was being done from Dehradun while there is no one to look after the real victims in far-flung areas.

Joshi said the state government was hiding the facts about the actual number of people dead in the disaster.Therefore, it was stopping the media from reaching the affected sites.

He also questioned the government figures on the affected villages in the state and said that contrary to claims of the government of only 220 villages being affected, the actual figure was around 346 villages, which have been affected due to the disaster and remain completely damaged till today.

Joshi said the BJP was supporting the government till now but if the latter did not change its arrogant attitude, it would be difficult for the party to continue its support.

Govt should register every pilgrim: Speaker
BD Kasniyal

Pithoragarh, July 1
Following his statement of the probable death toll of 10,000 people in the Himalayan floods, Uttarakhand Assembly Speaker Govind Singh Kunjwal has suggested to the state government that every pilgrim coming to the state should be registered by the state authorities.

Briefing mediapersons before starting his visit to the disaster-affected areas of the district today, the Speaker said that in the absence of any accurate information about the number of pilgrims on the yatra routes on June 15, there was confusion over the death toll in the disaster. “If every pilgrim, gets registered with the authorities, it will help in identifying and making an adequate rescue structure due to such disasters in future,” said the speaker.

The Speaker suggested that the government should ban the construction of buildings at the spots which are at 200 m distance from the river bed. “Most of the loss of property and human lives was reported from near the rivers this time,” he said.

He said there was fear of the spread of epidemic diseases in the disaster-affected area as the bodies under debris have started rotting. “The water sources in these areas have become contaminated, but the villagers are forced to consume the contaminated water as they have no other source of drinking water,” he said.

The Speaker visited the disaster affected areas of Baluakot, Gothi, Charchum and Jauljibi and instructed the officers to visit the far-flung areas, from where the actual figures of losses had not reached the administration yet.

If every pilgrim gets registered with the authorities, it will help in identifying and making an adequate rescue structure in times of such disasters in future.
— Govind Singh Kunjwal, Assembly Speaker

Madhya Pradesh CM gives support in rebuilding calamity-hit areas
Tribune News Service

Haridwar, July 1
Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shiv Raj Chauhan has extended support to Uttarakhand in rebuilding the areas which were affected by the recent natural calamity.

Meeting pilgrims that are being evacuated from Garhwal hills and brought to Haridwar, CM Chauhan said that he was with each and every family which lost some one in this tragedy. He termed it not only state tragedy of Uttarakhand but equivalent to a national tragedy.

Lauding the efforts of the Army personnel, Shiv Raj Chauhan also announced a Rs 10 lakh ex-gratia compensation to the jawans killed in rescue efforts. He added he had directed all the district collectors of his state to compile data of the all the devotees who visited Badrinath, Kedarnath, Gangotri and Yamunotri shrines in Uttarakhand so that the missing persons' data could be known.

He pointed out that till date 2435 pilgrims were given free residential accommodation by Akhil Bharatiya Gayatri Parivar, Shantikunj, in Haridwar.

Chief of Shantikunj Pranav Pandya said that for the flood affected areas of Uttarakhand, the Gayatri family had made a special scheme.

He told reporters that a camp had been put up each at Rudraprayag, Guptkashi, Uttarkashi, Karanaprayag and Munisyari by Shantikunj family volunteers who are working day and night for the affected people.

The ninth batch of volunteers was flagged off yesterday for Kedar ghati region. This batch comprises 8 each youths from Shantikunj and Dev Sanskriti Vishwavidyalaya , who were quite adept in disaster management.

These volunteers, who are well versed in rituals, will perform the last rites of the bodies in Kedar ghati.

At Shantikunj, Haridwar, more than 7,000 affected people were given shelter, free aid, food and monetary help to reach their respective home destinations. Chauhan along with his wife prayed at Akhand Deepak, which is being lighted since 1926 at Shantikunj premises in memory of Shantikunj founder Rishiyugam Shri Ram Sharma Acharya. 

Surat-based NGO to help in disposal of bodies
Jotirmay Thapliyal
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, July 1
The rain-caused catastrophe has raised the surface level of Kedarnath by 8 to 12 feet. This has made it a challenging task for the agencies to pull out bodies from pile of debris.

Extending a helping hand, a 14-member team of Surat-based NGO Ekta Trust, led by Abdul Rehman Malbari, yesterday reached Dehradun. It proceeded on its way to Kedarnath to conduct the challenging task of disposal of bodies.

Principal Secretary, Home, Om Prakash, in his response to the NGO's offer of help in the disposal of decomposed bodies, had said about 1 lakh cubic metre of water, along with parts of torn glacier, huge boulders and rubble, caused devastating flash floods in the Kedar valley and resulted in bodies getting strewn all over the temple premises.

“Due to the deposition of boulders, rubble and muck, the surface level of the Kedranath temple premises has risen. It is likely that there may be a large number of bodies under the debris,” Om Prakash informed the Ekta Trust through an email.

Significantly, disposing of rotten bodies is now a big challenge for the state, particularly when the death toll is expected to reach 3,000. The Ekta Trust is known for rendering services in disposing of bodies during calamities. The 31-year-old Ekta Trust, founded by Surti Muslim Abdul Rehman Malbari, had played a significant role in conducting last rites of a large number of unclaimed bodies during the tsunami and the Bhuj earthquake. The trust has members from both Hindu and Muslim communities and it conducts the last rites according to the faith of the deceased.

Imran Mullah, a team member, said they were fully equipped with safety material to provide their services at Kedarnath, Rambara and Gaurikund. Another member Damu Bhai Thakkar said the team was fully prepared to face the challenge.

He added the inclement weather would not deter them from going ahead and fulfilling the task. “The task is certainly challenging as the bodies buried under debris for 14 days would have rotten by now,” he added.

Metro Hospital team back from disaster-hit areas
Tribune News Service

Haridwar, July 1
A specialised medical team of Metro Group of Hospitals, who camped for a week in Garhwal hills, providing free medical aid to the disaster-hit returned back to Haridwar today.

Led by Sandeep Vaishnava, the highly equipped medical team aided with two ambulances had reached Gauchar on June 21, where they first distributed relief aid in the form of food, ration and blankets.

Then the team went to more affected areas of Narayan Baghar near Karanprayag, where due to landslides and caving in of the roads, the medical team had to tread on foot to hold medical camps.

More than three hundred fifty persons were provided medical aid.All the medical aid was given free of cost. The team also educated local people on how to prevent spread of epidemic diseases. As per team doctors, most of the patients were found with viral fever, stomach ache, loose motion, headache, cold, external and internal wounds.

Local district administration has also appreciated the voluntary effort pitched in by the team, which has also assured of further such social initiatives in future also.

350 units of blood donated at Nirankari mission camp
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, July 1
Sant Nirankari Mission yesterday organised a blood donation camp for of disaster-hit victims.

Held at Sant Nirankari Mission Bhawan, Dehradun, a total of 350 persons donated blood. State Health Minister Surendra Singh Negi who was also the chief guest said there was no greater service to humanity than donating blood and asserted that the cause has become doubly noble particularly when it is being done in aid of the disaster-hit.

Mission’s media in-charge Kripa Sagar said the mission is also providing medicines and other relief material to the disaster-hit districts in the state. Referring to blood donation camp, Kripa Sagar said a total of 3,300 blood donation camps across the country had been organised so far by the mission.

Uttarakhand Planning Minister Dinesh Agarwal was also present on the occasion.