Rajnath Singh arrives in Dehradun to review natural disasters, meets Harish Rawat

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh today arrived in Dehradun to review natural disasters in the city. During his visit he also met Uttarakhand Chief Minister Harish Rawat.

Yesterday, 17 people were buried alive after landslides hit the Pauri Garhwal district of Uttarakhand, where torrential rainfall has been on for nearly weeks now.

Moreover, 20 persons were killed Dehradun and Haridwar when their houses were washed away due to landslides and floods.

Joint Secretary of the Disaster Management Board, Santosh Badoni said, "We first started the rescue operations in the sensitive areas. We have rescued 103 people from Beda village and sent them to Rishikesh. We are now working in Pauri to find any surviving villager."

"On state level we have information of the death of 22 people, of which 12 have died in Pauri, nine in Dehradun and one in Pithoragarh. The rescue operations cannot be stopped immediately. No alerts for heavy rains have been given either by us or by the Met department so far," he added.

However, former Uttarakhand Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal criticised the current state government for not working effectively.

"The situation has ravaged us. Rajnath Singh has always been helpful to Uttarakhand. We have asked for his personal attention. We will help the CM. The state government will have to see to what level it can work. The central government will help but the execution of the proposals has to be done by the state government. But it is clear that the state government did not work efficiently," said Pokhriyal.

Earlier today, various parts of India including Uttar Pradesh's Bahraich district and Sitapur town, West Bengal's Cooch Behar district and Himachal's Haridwar city had also faced a flood like situation.

India experiences monsoon rains from June to September, which are vital for its agriculture. But the rains frequently affect millions of people - devastating crops, destroying homes and sparking outbreaks of diseases like diarrhea.