The Centre has released an amount of 145 crore rupees from the State Disaster Relief Fund to the Uttarakhand government. Talking to reporters after the Group of Ministers meeting in New Delhi, Information and Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari said this has been done following the announcement of the Prime Minister. He said that the Indian Air Force has committed 13 more aircraft for relief and rescue work taking the total to 43 and rescue efforts are on in full swing.
Mr Tewari also said measures are being taken to make operational the mobile towers which are down in the next 24 hours.
The Army, Indo Tibetan Border Police, ITBP and National Disaster Response Force, NDRF teams have rescued about 56 thousand pilgrims and tourists from disaster affected areas of Uttarakhand till now. They have been rescued mostly from Kedar valley in Rudraprayag district and Chamoli, Uttarkashi, Tehri and Pithoragarh districts. An ITBP spokesperson said there could still be about 400-500 people in the upper reaches.
AIR correspondent reports that rescue operations are at full swing.
The Border Road Organisation BRO and Army have opened several roads affected in landslide in Rudraprayag, Chamoli, Tehri, Uttarkashi and Pithoragarh districts Vehicle’s movement has begun on NH-94 between Dharasu and Rishikesh and road linking Sitapur- Guptkashi- Mayali- Ghansali has been opened. In Badrinath region several roads in Chamoli district have also been opened to move stranded pilgrims and tourists by road transport. Communication nodes have been established at Gaucher, Harsil, Joshimath and Rudraprayag by the Army to enable people to contact their families.
Meanwhile state government has confirmed 207 causalities and about 400 hundred persons have been given medical assistance. In Hardwar 48 dead bodies were recovered from river Ganga. They have been kept at District hospital Haridwar. One of them has been identified as Dinesh Kumar Singh from Badaun district in Uttar Pradesh on the basis of an identity card recovered from the body. Railways have set up helplines. Hardwar’s helpline numbers are 9760534054/09760534055, Dehradun numbers is 01352-622131 and Rishikesh helpline number is 01352-434167.
