With huge destruction reported in 2013 in Uttarakhand during the Char Dham Yatra, it would be the biggest challenge for the State Government to resume the Char Dham Yatra in 2014, due to damaged infrastructure like roads and connecting bridges.
The State Government keeps claiming that they are doing everything to restore damaged infrastructure since the disaster which happened on June 16-17 due to cloudburst in Mandakini River in Kedar valley, especially around Kedarnath, Alaknanda in Badrinath and Bhagirathi in Gangotri. Although hundreds of pilgrims were struck in Hemkund Sahib too, their condition was not as pathetic as in Kedar valley.
It was the worst natural calamity in Uttarakhand's history, a deluge which left more than 5,000 dead and thousands missing and washed away countless villages, roads and bridges. Ultimately, it has made a severe dent in tourism, the main resource of the State's economy, in which more than 20 states and five countries residents lost their lives.
In Uttarakhand, the worst affected districts were Rudraprayag, Chamoli, Uttarkashi and Pithoragarh. Talking to The Pioneer, an official said that the State will take at least five years to resume at least 20 per cent of the damaged infrastructure since still the State Government is still groping in the dark to find out a solution.
For instance, Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna convened a meeting with Union Road and Transport Minister Oscar Fernandes and alleged that the State of the Rudraprayag-Gaurikund route is very bad and Border Road Organisation (BRO) has failed to do something concrete so far. The State Government's PWD had made a proposal of Rs 46 crore for its reconstruction after inspection.
During the meeting, approval was obtained to hand over the work to PWD. later, the State Government issued a press note that issues are going to be addressed, but in reality, PWD officials said that they were not in a position to execute the work as they didn't have the technical expertise.
The video footage of riverside structures and temples collapsing like a pack of cards and flowing down the swirling waters of rivers in spate, is there for all to see. Even The Pioneer had visited the disaster-affected areas of Kedar Valley and witnessed the rescue operation amid thousands of trapped pilgrims who were from across the State.
The incident has exposed the State lack of preparedness to deal with such exigency. To mitigate the emergency, Government officials were found asking counter questions to the media like whether they had anticipated such devastation would happen.
Interestingly, Uttarakhand had not known a disaster of this scale in which not just humans, but a well-known stopover destination for devotees on way to the Himalayan shrine of Kedarnath like Rambara, a bustling township near Gaurikund, vanished without a trace with all those who lived there and did tourism-related businesses.
The magnitude of the tragedy can be gauged from the fact that there was uncertainty for months over the exact number of people killed and missing, with authorities wary of specifying a figure, saying many bodies could be lying under tonnes of rubble left in the wake of the deluge. Giving a thumbs up to the rescue operation, which was jointly carried out by Indian Air Force, Army, ITBP, police and private choppers, National
Disaster Management Agency (NDMA) member and nodal officer for relief and rescue operations in rain ravaged Uttarakhand, VK Duggal, said: "It was the biggest operation in the world because we managed to rescue around 1.10 lakh people who were stranded in disaster-ravaged areas as we conducted massive rescue operation in tough terrains despite inimical weather condition."
Although the State is going to receive around Rs 8,500 crore, including Rs 1,000 crore from different ministries of the Union Government for the reconstruction of Uttarakhand in the next three years, the major challenge before the State Government is to utilise the funds on the ground.
As far as issuance of death certificates of persons who have been missing since disaster struck Uttarakhand on June 16-17 is concerned, the State Government has issued a letter to all State Governments to send confirmation to them so that the Uttarakhand Government would be able to issue death certificates. This would also be a challenge before the State Government.
The June disaster has damaged existing infrastructure of the State Government, especially in religious tourism, which was main source of income of the State Government. Although they had managed to open the Char Dham in September, but could not attract pilgrims so it would be the biggest challenge before the State Government to restore the infrastructure and motivate the people to come Uttarakhand during upcoming Char Dham Yatra-2014. The State will have to do all such activities before the opening of Char Dham Yatra, which starts with Akshya tritiya.
Talking to The Pioneer, leader of Opposition Ajay Bhatt said that it is true that no one had anticipated such devastation, but "can't we mitigate it by addressing the problems of the disaster affected victimsIJ For this, we will have to execute the Government order on ground with tough political will." Recently, Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna has decided to disburse Rs 5,000 cash among disaster victims' families from the Chief Minister's relief fund so that they can buy woolen clothes to warm themselves in bone chilling weather.
The State Government has claimed that "we have decided to release Rs five lakh to the victims, who lost their accommodation, so that they can build their pre fabricated home themselves". Now less than 150 victims have expressed desire to take constructed pre-fabricated homes from the State Government.
It has thrown another challenge before the State Government to revive the faith of the masses as well. Even the State Government was seen busy in issuance of all Government orders, which were issued to addressed the anomalies in earlier order, on December 30 and 31. It means earlier government was not aware about such anomalies so State will have to take this as challenge as well.
It would be interesting to know that the Congress-led State Government is being survived by the People Democratic Front (PDF), which is an alliance of seven MlAs, including three BSP, three independent and one UKD (P). The State Government will have to survive in 2014 because since inception of the Bahuguna Government in March 12, there has been suspicion whether the Bahuguna Government will survive at all. Despite political hiccups, the State Government will have to meet all the challenges in 2014.