A fresh round of heavy rains and landslides on Monday dampened the hopes of an early rescue of over 10,000 people who remain stranded in the upper reaches of Uttarakhand.
Fresh landslides were reported on the Rudraprayag and Badrinath highway, and a cloudburst over the Mulan village in Pauri district led to several houses collapsing, though no reports of casualties have come in so far.
It is feared that the rescue efforts may get stalled for the next three days as heavy rains are being forecast on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. The weather is expected to improve by Friday.
Uttarakhand disaster management minister Yashpal Arya reiterated on Monday that “at least 5,000 people have been killed in the deluge”, though Union home minister Sushilkumar Shinde said the death toll was expected to cross the 1,000 figure.
ITBP personnel have so far recovered 125 bodies while the NDRF has recovered over 400 bodies so far. The Navy has deployed divers and put its marine commandos on standby, ready to aid in rescue efforts.
While rescue efforts faced fresh bottlenecks, a war of words has erupted between different political parties over Gujarat CM Narendra Modi’s controversial aerial survey over the weekend and his proactive relief measures. Mr Shinde advised VIPs not to visit the state, saying such visits created difficulties in relief and rescue operations, while the CPI(M) said it was “very unfortunate and sad” that political leaders were trying to seek publicity for relief work. Senior CPI(M)