Rains and landslides in the worst-affected areas of Uttarakhand on Tuesday slowed down the pace of evacuation leaving more than 6,000 pilgrims trapped in Harsil and Badrinath.
However, despite the inclement weather, the Army and IAF rescued around 1,100 pilgrims from these two places. With more rains predicted in the coming days, the armed forces are making all efforts to evacuate the last of the survivors without any delay.
Though the overcast sky and rain affected visibility, the Army and IAF flew sorties in some areas to air-lift people and escorted many others on foot through makeshift bridges and tracks. Army helicopters formed heli-bridges at various places and flew more than 30 sorties evacuating 253 people in Harsil sector, officials said here adding approximately 1,000 people were still stranded there.
In Badrinath sector, evacuation by air and a combination of foot and vehicle continued on Tuesday with 740 people reaching Joshimath by late evening. More than 260 people crossed Alaknanda at lambagar using the heli-bridge and Burma bridge. More than 4,000 pilgrims were still trapped there and officials said they were safe and would be evacuated in the next 24 to 48 hours.
Officials said in order to speed up evacuation, Army engineers commenced construction of a steel footbridge across Alaknanda at lambagar in Badrinath Valley. Once completed, evacuation by foot will be rapid.
Stating that Kedarnath, Yamunotri and Gangotri were cleared, they said one more final attempt was made when the Army’s special troops carried out extensive search operations in Jungle Chatti.
No one was found stranded anywhere between Gaurikund and Ram Bara. The troops will continue search depending upon requirement.
The Army also evacuated 92 people from Sobala Valley of Dharchula in Pithoragarh district. Tejam and its surrounding villages were cut off following floods and 500 people were provided medical aid. The Army earlier relocated people from low-lying areas to higher reaches in Dharchula.
As regards the IAF, operations were hampered as the weather generally remained bad throughout the day in most parts of the State except Dharasu near Kedarnath. Six MI-17 V5 helicopters commenced flying at 11 am and till 1.30 pm completed 11 sorties and evacuated 176 people from Harsil, Maneri and Dharasu.
A C-130J transport plane also carried out a reconnaissance sortie over the flood affected areas to collect data for further operations in the days to come, officials said.
Officials added that no flying could take place in Pithoragarh sector due to heavy rains and clouds.
Same conditions prevailed in Himachal Pradesh where flying by three helicopters commenced at 12.00 pm and evacuation of stranded people was underway from Sangla and Puh to Rampur
Meanwhile, the Border Road Organisation (BRO) further intensified its efforts to restore road connectivity in the flood affected areas of Uttarakhand. Due to heavy rains in the entire region road clearance work was hampered at many places and roads blocked due to fresh landslides and breaches but efforts were on clear them quickly.
Fresh landslides after rains have blocked the Rishikesh-Uttarkashi road at seven places and clearance work is going on. Similarly, the Rishikesh-Joshimath-Badrinath axis was also blocked at two points due to water logging and fresh landslides and breaches.
The BRO has constructed two improvised log bridges between Songanga and Gaurikund on Rudraprayag axis. This greatly helped in the evacuation of about 2,000 pilgrims from Gaurikund by land route. A readymade footbridge is being launched across the river Alaknanda near Badrinath.
Many other roads under the charge of BRO in Uttarakhand have also suffered extensive damages and clearance work has started on these roads. However, full focus will shift to these roads once the major ones are open, officials said.