Member of Parliament Garhwal Constituency and Uttarakhand former Chief Minister Maj Gen (Rtd) Bhuwan Chandra Khanduri said the main challenge facing the disaster affected Yamkeshwar block in Pauri district is the repair of the damaged roads and the supply of food grains. Despite the rescue operation being completed, the officers concerned are unable to reach out to most of the disaster- affected villages due to roads remaining blocked.
Taking to the media in Circuit House at Pauri on Wednesday, Khanduri said the victims are facing problems because of the erratic supply of the food grains. This despite the State Government having dropped food stuff packets to the disaster- affected areas. The fact is that the real victims are not getting them.
Gen Khanduri stressed that the national food security scheme which was started a few days ago, again stopped and the ration is out of bounds for them. In reality, the shops of the dealers are empty as the dealers have not got their quotas of rations for the past two months. By way of contrast, during the Vajpayee regime, as per a scheme, the ration card holders were getting 35 kgs of food grains per month and the BPl beneficiaries were getting 10 kgs of ration free of cost. He said the disaster -affected places in Yamkeshwar are suffering because of erratic supplies of water and electricity.
Khanduri said that the money given for the disaster of June 2013 had been misused. The condition of the roads to Kedarnath and Badrinnath is still not satisfactory, although the government claimed it is good and nodded for the start of Chardham Yatra. The disaster management is a total failure, he alleged. Echoing, MlA Yamkeshwar Vijya Barthwal said the administration and the government have done nothing by way of providing succor to the
victims of the disaster.