With relief operation failing to take off for the past four/five days due to bad weather conditions, people including Kailash Mansarovar pilgrims, continued to remain stranded in upper Himalayan region of Pithoragarh for many days.
On account of adverse weather conditions we have not been able to carry out relief operations in disaster affected areas for the past four/five days , said Dr. Neeraj Khairwal, District Magistrate, Pithoragarh, while talking to The Pioneer on Sunday.
“And the people who remain stranded in different disaster affected places, have not yet been evacuated as due to poor visibility we have not been able to utilise helicopter services to take out the people from the upper parts of district,” added the District Magistrate Pithoragarh.
“Therefore, the Kailash Mansarovar pilgrims who are on way back home after visiting the holy Kailash Mansarovar, also remain stranded at Gunji base for the past two days,” Khairwal informed.
However, officials concerned are also in touch with the Ministry of External Affairs to evacuate the pilgrims from the Gunji base camp, he added. But the matter of concerns is that air transportation service remains ineffective for many days due to poor weather mconditions. Therefore, it is difficult to say how long it will take to resume the relief operations in Pithorgarh as the officials concerned informed.
However, whereas the Kailash Mansarovar pilgrims are safe in the supervision of the officials concerned of the Kumaon Mandal Vikas Nigam(KMVN) and the ITBP, condition of the people who have been stranded for many days in different locations of Pithoragarh which remain cut off from other parts of the globe is really concerning for all as even the officials concerned have not been able to drop even the basic relief materials in these affected places for four/ five days.
It is to note that on account of adverse conditions, the roadtransportation networks have already been collapsed in Pithoragarh. Even the main national highway which is upto Tawaghat on way to the India-Tibet border route from district headquarter Pithoragarh remain blocked at several places for long. The prevailing weather conditions have only worsened even the surface transportation connectivity in Pithoragarh.