Death
toll in Uttarakhand
touches 1,000, killer rain may return in 48 hours
With
more than 22,000 people still stranded in the flood-devastated upper
reaches of Uttarakhand, where 1,000 people have been killed according
to state chief minister Vijay Bahuguna, the likelihood of moderate
rains on Sunday and worse the day after came as bad news.
26
January, 2013
"There
is a possibility of light to moderate rain from June 23. Further
increase in rainfall is likely to occur from June 25 onwards up till
June 27," Anand Sharma, head of the meteorological centre,
Dehradun, said on Saturday.
Authorities
fear a second spell of rain - after the first on June 15 triggered
flash floods and landslides - may hit rescue operations in the tough
Himalayan terrain and turn the disaster into a catastrophe.
As
state chief minister told TV news channels on Saturday that as many
as "1,000 people may have been killed" in the disaster,
more rains would add to the woes of stranded people, taking down
night temperatures even as they battle hunger.
The
Army and paramilitary force teams raced against time to rescue
stranded people and provide them succour as officials Saturday put
the death toll at 557 and said 20,000 people were still stuck.
Army
chief General Bikram Singh said the army was rushing its personnel
with logistics, medical cover and rations to extricate people stuck
in flood-hit areas in the mountainous state keeping in mind bad
weather predictions for Monday.
"Time
is limited. We have a window till Sunday because I have been told the
weather might turn bad again. We are rushing our people there,"
Army chief General Bikram Singh said on the sidelines of an event in
Hyderabad.
He
said the army had increased its deployment of rescuers from 500
personnel the first day to more than 6,000 by Saturday.
Information
and Broadcasting minister Manish Tewari, giving an update of the
situation in the hill state, said on Saturday about 10,000 people
were evacuated by the army and Indo-Tibetan Border Police, including
from critical areas.
The
army and paramilitary personnel stepped up the already-frenzied pace
of their operations on the fifth day of rescue work. According to the
state government's bulletin, 7,000 stranded people were rescued till
Saturday evening.
Despite
bad weather, the Indian Air Force carried out 150 helicopter sorties
till Saturday afternoon, said Tewari, adding that in all, 61
helicopters - 43 of IAF, 11 of the army and seven private - are
engaged in the rescue and relief mission.
He
also said there was "absolute and complete coordination"
between various agencies active in relief operations.
Tiwari
put the death toll at 557, with 412 injured.
ITBP
spokesman Deepak K Pandey said over 9,500 people were still trapped
in Kedarnath and the Badrinath region.
He
said around 8,000 were estimated to be stranded in Badrinath region.
He
said a new ropeway has been installed at Lambagar, about 10 km from
Badrinath, to rescue people.
Pandey
said stranded people were being brought to Govindghat and then taken
to Joshimath on bus and other vehicles. In Joshimath, names of
rescued people are being noted before sending them for onward journey
to Dehradun, Haridwar and Rishikesh.
Rescued
pilgrims from Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh began to return home. Of
399 pilgrims from Tamil Nadu, 275 were flown to Delhi, an official
statement said Saturday.
They
will be flown back to Chennai. A team of Tamil Nadu government
officials are in Haridwar to coordinate with the Uttarakhand
government to find out the whereabouts of the other 124 pilgrims
About
100 pilgrims from Andhra Pradesh reached Vijayawada from New Delhi by
Kerala Express while another group of 30 reached Kazipet in Warangal
district by New Delhi-Hyderabad AP Express.
For
the pilgrims it was a tearful reunion with their loved ones. The
relatives of the pilgrims cried and embraced them as Kerala Express
halted at Vijayawada station.
Amid
the race against time, an eight-member team of experts was sent to
Kedarnath temple to count the bodies lying in the area.
Union
home minister Sushilkumar Shinde, who visited Dehradun and met
Bahuguna, admitted to a "lack of coordination between government
agencies engaged in rescue operations". Shinde, who arrived here
to review the rescue operations, said the disaster was not man-made.
Gujarat
chief minister Narendra Modi also visited the state and lauded the
army and other rescue teams after an aerial survey of the
flood-ravaged areas.
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