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‘All-weather choppers need of the hour’

Vice-chairman of the advisory committee of the State Disaster Management Authority Lt Gen (Retd) MC Badhani in an interview told Millennium Post, ‘We need all-weather choppers that can fly in rough weathers and can carry their mission smoothly in dangerous terrains. We are also planning to install full-proof communication system in the important locations of the state.

Environment and geological issues will be considered while carrying out rehabilitation and re-construction work in the disaster-hit villages of Uttarakhand. In any organisation, there is always scope for improvement. We will suggest plug those gaps that hinder our path to development.’
Before retirement, he has held prestigious positions of the director general Border Roads Organisation and engineer-in-chief of the Indian Armed Forces.

Regarding the criticism of state government by certain media section on late response after the catastrophe on 16-17 June, he replied that people were misinformed. The real scenario was totally different.
He said that it was a serious disaster of huge impact on high altitudes Garhwal mandal. The natural calamity in the form of incessant rain, flood, cloud-burst, landslides hit all the Char Dhams, including Hemkunt Sahib simultaneously. This time, the monsoon came fifteen days earlier, and no one imagined that this thing can happen.

The met department never predicted of cloud-burst and land sliding in the major places where the pilgrimage yatra was on peak. Generally, the major chunk of pilgrims comes before the onset of monsoon, as we have noticed in the previous years.

He added that due to inclement weather and land sliding, communication totally paralysed immediately after the catastrophe. Many roads and bridges connecting pilgrimage centres washed away in the flood fury.
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