Seventeen long days after the Himalayan catastrophe that struck most parts of Uttarakhand, the mammoth multi-agency rescue operations to evacuate all stranded pilgrims and tourists concluded Tuesday with a group of 150 people being taken to safety from Badrinath.In all, around 1.1 lakh people stranded by flash floods and landslides after monsoon rains pounded the hill state on June 15 were evacuated by thousands of personnel of the Army, IAF, Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) and National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), who braved all odds.
"All the remaining pilgrims stranded in Badrinath dham have been evacuated. Now some locals and Nepali labourers remain there who will be evacuated gradually as the damaged roads are restored," Chamoli's district magistrate SA Murugesan said. The IAF, which concluded its air sorties, has however stationed 10 choppers in the state for about a week or so for use in any operations, an IAF official said in Delhi. The rescue mission was marred by tragedy when an IAF Mi17 V5 chopper carrying 20 personnel and crew crashed killing all on board. Though the rescue mission has concluded, authorities faced a daunting task of cremation of badly decomposed bodies in Kedarnath area with bad weather hampering this process for the fourth day.
Another challenge is removing tonnes of debris from the shrine premises in Kedarnath as there are no roads to transport heavy equipment like 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. A total of 36 bodies have so far been disposed of in
Kedarnath with 60-65 more lying visibly on the ground yet to be consigned to flames.
Though not specifying a time frame for the exercise, Bansal said there is every indication the process will take long. Bodies in Kedarnath and adjoining areas like Rambada are stated to be already in an advanced stage of decomposition on
the 17th day of the tragedy. The bridge over Alaknanda at Lambagar is badly damaged which will take at least 2-3 months to be repaired, he said, adding that the BRO is working on it. Officials said taking relief material to remote villages due to poor connectivity is a major problem. Though choppers are being used for the purpose the exercise is confined to just a few areas, they said. With Gaurikund-Kedar Highway still closed , there is foodgrain shortage in at least 170 villages in Kedarghati area in Rudraprayag district, officials said. But relief material has been despatched to Kalimath, Chandrapuri and Sauri areas in the district.
Gangotri Highway in Uttarkashi district is blocked at eight points while Yamunotri Highway is closed from Hanumanchatti to Yamunotri making it difficult to take relief material to affected villages. The Finance Ministry, meanwhile, has sought financial assistance from World Bank and Asian Development Bank for rebuilding damaged infrastructure in the disaster-hit state. “In view of the emergency situation, both ADB and the World Bank have been requested to fast track the processes of needs assessment, project preparation and approval," the Finance Ministry said in a statement. Loans from the multilateral development banks would be passed on by government of India to Uttarakhand as 90 per cent grant and 10 per cent loan, since it is a special category state, the statement added. In view of the gravity of the situation, prime minister Manmohan Singh had last month announced financial support of Rs 1,000 crore to Uttarakhand for disaster relief, of which Rs 145 crore was released immediately.
After a preliminary assessment of the extent of the colossal tragedy, the Uttarakhand Cabinet had yesterday decided to revise the norms for relief and rehabilitation by widening the ambit of beneficiaries ranging from small kiosks to 'dhabas' to big hotels.
