Shinde asks Defence Ministry for more choppers, over 60,000 still stranded
21 Jun 2013 5:56 AM IST
Union home minister Sushil Kumar Shinde asked Defence Ministry for more helicopters to rescue over 60,000 people trapped in the rain-ravaged Uttrakhand as more NDRF teams were sent making it a total of 13 teams.
According to recent figures given by Defence Ministry total number of people rescued now is 10,500 and 102 sorties were flown by air force. Besides, a total of 35 IAF helicopters were also operating.
Home minister Sushil Kumar Shinde earlier on Thursday had said that so far 22 helicopters have been used to evacuate stranded people to safer locations and through hundreds of sorties they rescued 22,392 people.
'But 22 helicopters are not enough. So, we have requested the Defence Ministry to deploy more helicopters to expedite the rescue operations in Uttarakhand.
The Defence Ministry agreed to our request and hopefully the additional choppers will be deployed soon,' he told reporters in New Delhi.
Asked whether the death toll in Uttarakhand could go up, the home minister said he has spoken to Uttarakhand chief minister Vijay Bahuguna who conveyed that it was difficult to tell the
exact number of people who died since all debris have not been cleared yet.
The union home minister said due to bad weather on Thursday morning, rescue operation has been hit in Uttarakhand.
He said he has convened a high-level meeting on Friday to take stock of the relief and rescue operations.
Representatives of Ministries of Home, Defence, Food, the National Disaster Management Authority and other stake holders will attend the meeting.
According to the latest situational report sent to the Home Ministry summarising progress of rescue and relief operations, 13 teams of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) consisting of 422 personnel and 3,000 personnel of ITBP, besides hundreds of Army personnel are engaged in rescue works in Uttarakhand.
One team of ITBP operated between Govindghat and Joshimath and evacuated pilgrims stuck there, the statement said.
It was also decided that ITBP would launch teams from Pithoragarh to all the valleys in the district to see if the villagers or stranded persons require any assistance. The search, rescue and relief operations are being carried out with the help of helicopters from Army, Air Force, NDRF, ITBP and State government and there was no shortage of food material.
According to recent figures given by Defence Ministry total number of people rescued now is 10,500 and 102 sorties were flown by air force. Besides, a total of 35 IAF helicopters were also operating.
Home minister Sushil Kumar Shinde earlier on Thursday had said that so far 22 helicopters have been used to evacuate stranded people to safer locations and through hundreds of sorties they rescued 22,392 people.
'But 22 helicopters are not enough. So, we have requested the Defence Ministry to deploy more helicopters to expedite the rescue operations in Uttarakhand.
The Defence Ministry agreed to our request and hopefully the additional choppers will be deployed soon,' he told reporters in New Delhi.
Asked whether the death toll in Uttarakhand could go up, the home minister said he has spoken to Uttarakhand chief minister Vijay Bahuguna who conveyed that it was difficult to tell the
exact number of people who died since all debris have not been cleared yet.
The union home minister said due to bad weather on Thursday morning, rescue operation has been hit in Uttarakhand.
He said he has convened a high-level meeting on Friday to take stock of the relief and rescue operations.
Representatives of Ministries of Home, Defence, Food, the National Disaster Management Authority and other stake holders will attend the meeting.
According to the latest situational report sent to the Home Ministry summarising progress of rescue and relief operations, 13 teams of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) consisting of 422 personnel and 3,000 personnel of ITBP, besides hundreds of Army personnel are engaged in rescue works in Uttarakhand.
One team of ITBP operated between Govindghat and Joshimath and evacuated pilgrims stuck there, the statement said.
It was also decided that ITBP would launch teams from Pithoragarh to all the valleys in the district to see if the villagers or stranded persons require any assistance. The search, rescue and relief operations are being carried out with the help of helicopters from Army, Air Force, NDRF, ITBP and State government and there was no shortage of food material.
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