Uttarakhand deluge: Thousands missing, PM sanctions Rs 1,000 crore relief

Dehradun/Lucknow, Jun 19 (IANS): Thousands of people are missing following the devastating floods in Uttarakhand, officials said Wednesday, adding the death toll may run into frightening figures.

While the Uttarakhand government has confirmed the death of 110 people, officials privately concede that the number of fatalities may be much more than what is now known.

The dead include two policemen and three troopers of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP).

One official involved in the evacuation and rescue work told IANS on telephone that they feared that thousands might have perished in the rains and flash floods that lashed the state since Friday.

"We are not sure of the number of people who have died in the rains but for sure the numbers are much higher as more than 15,000 people are reported missing," a senior official said.

Uttarakhand Director General of Police Satyavrat conceded that two policemen and three ITBP troopers had perished and that an entire police outpost at Ram Bada had gone missing.

Moreover, whereabouts of a section of the Indian Reserve Battalion (IRB) posted there was not known.

Survivors returning from the disaster hit areas told IANS that they had seen bodies on roadsides and in the temple compound of Kedarnath - a sacred destination for Shiva followers.

Kedarnath, one of four highly revered shrines in Uttarkhand, is located at a height of 3,581 metres above sea level in the Rudra Himalayan range. The over 1,000-year-old temple was said to be built by Adi Shankara.

Officials admit that all of the 250 plus government and private hotels and lodges and more than 100 shops around the temple have been flattened.

The district magistrate of Rudraprayag, V.K. Dhaudhiyal, said he feared that the death toll in Kedarnath could be much higher.

At any given time, officials said 700 to 1,000 people were always at Ram Bada, which is now a heap of debris.

With 380 mm of rainfall, 450 percent more than usual, battering the area, aerial surveys have confirmed the worst fears.

Official records point out that during the June 14-16 rain fury, more than 13,000 people were at Kedarnath.

And while officials confirm evacuation of more than 1,000 people, the fate of the remaining 12,000 remains uncertain.

Other than this, officials fear massive loss of livestock. More than 5,500 mules are registered on the 14-km walking stretch from the base camp to the shrine.

Police and other officials have no information on either the mules or the people they were carrying or of their runners.

Other than this, the whereabouts of more than 1,000 people employed at the Ram Bada market, several hundred government employees, over 100 priests in the Shiva shrine are also not known.

The extent of damage in and around Kedarnath can be gauged by the fact that even Uttarakhand Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna admits it is "a calamity that has numbed him by its sheer magnitude".

Bahuguna told IANS that more than 18 km of trek to the shrine has been ripped apart and it would not be possible for the pilgrimage to Kedarnath to resume before one year.

PM sanctions Rs.1,000 crore for Uttarakhand disaster relief

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Wednesday granted Rs.1,000 crore for disaster relief in Uttarakhand and said the death toll in the state due to heavy rains and floods could be higher than the current estimate of 102.

The prime minister, who made an aerial survey of the rain and flood-hit areas of Uttarakhand with United Progressive Alliance (UPA) chairperson Sonia Gandhi, said here they were distressed to see the devastation.

"What the UPA chairperson and I saw today was most distressing. While the most recent estimates put the death toll at 102, it is feared that loss of lives could eventually be much higher," he said.

The prime minister said more than 10,000 people have been rescued and were being provided food, clothing and shelter, but many were still stranded.

He said the maximum damage was in Kedarnath and its vicinity.

He said the priority for the authorities was to rescue the stranded people and provide urgently needed succour to those most in need of it.

"We saw the large-scale devastation that has been caused in the state. Our hearts go out to the families of those who have lost their lives and those who have suffered injury or loss of property in this huge tragedy," the prime minister said.

He said the immediate need was for rescue and relief operations and the government would not spare any effort in this regard.

"I have decided to provide Rs.1,000 crore to Uttarakhand for disaster relief, of which Rs.145 crore is being released immediately. I have also directed all central agencies to render all possible assistance in their domain to the state," he said.

The prime minister said the central and state governments have deployed all possible resources to deal with the immediate aftermath of the ghastly tragedy.

"About 5,500 jawans and army officers, 3,000 men of the Border Roads Organisation and 600 ITBP (Indo-Tibetan Border Police) personnel are engaged in relief and rescue efforts. Thirteen teams of the National Disaster Response Force have been deployed," he said.

The Indian Air Force, he said, has deployed 18 helicopters and a C-130 aircraft and private helicopters have also been engaged by the state government.

He said it would take some time to assess the magnitude of the loss in terms of lives lost and houses destroyed or damage to infrastructure.

He said the central and state governments would continue to work in close coordination to ensure that every possible effort is made not only to provide immediate relief to the affected people but also to help them reconstruct their lives.

The prime minister announced an ex-gratia assistance of Rs.2 lakh each to the families of the deceased and Rs.50,000 each to the injured.

The monetary aid will be given from the Prime Minister's National Relief Fund (PMNRF)

"We will also provide from the PMNRF ex-gratia assistance of Rs.1 lakh each to those whose houses have been completely destroyed and Rs.50,000 each to those whose houses have been damaged," he said.

Survivors bring back harrowing tales from the hills

Akash and his three friends watched in horror as a rain swollen river in Uttarakhand washed away their car, leaving them stranded.

On their return to Haridwar, they said they escaped the nature's fury by taking shelter at a private helipad.

All four feel they have had a second birth. At one time, they had given up all hopes of surviving the rampaging floods in Uttarakhand that have claimed over 100 lives and affected thousands.

"We saw houses and hotels collapse like they were made of cardboard," recounted another survivor of a group from Lucknow that went to Kedarnath, one of the worst hit places in Uttarakhand.

Even as the authorities, with help from the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) and the army, stepped up rescue efforts, survivors from last week's heavy rains, landslides and cloud bursts have returned with harrowing tales.

One survivor recounted how a girl walking ahead of them was suddenly swept away in the rains. Apparently, more than 100 people, mostly pilgrims, remain stranded near Sonprayag.

Shailendra Prakash Singh, another survivor, says the destruction was so sweeping that he was left only with the clothes he was in. Everything else he had was lost.

Rampati Ram Tripathi, former Uttar Pradesh president of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), is trapped in a Garhwal tourism guest house in Uttarkashi. Efforts are on to rescue him.

He has told party colleagues that he has been stranded since June 15 after returning from Gangotri. According to him, all major roads have been wiped off the map.

"There is no help coming our way," he complained. "There is no power, no food. All that we have is shelter at this place," he said on telephone.

There are more than 20 people from Lucknow and over 30 families from Uttar Pradesh who have been caught in the disaster in Uttarakhand, informed sources said.

Many were lucky to telephonically alert their families before losing the mobile network.

Meanwhile, the Uttarakhand government confirmed Wednesday that bodies of two policemen and three ITBP troopers who were washed way earlier have been recovered.

Director General of Police Satyavrat said the force might have lost more people.

"Policemen posted at a temporary police station in Rambada are still untraced and we don't know what has happened to them," he said. Rambada is located on the route to Kedarnath.

Several private companies and social groups like the Haridwar-based Gayatri Parivaar are taking care of people coming back from Uttarkashi and Rudraprayag.