Shinde lauds rescue efforts in flood-hit Uttarakhand

Union Home Minister Sushi Kumar Shinde on Friday lauded the rescue efforts made by military and paramilitary personnel in flood-hit Uttarakhand.

"Weather has not been good, but all rescue officials have shown excellent coordination in rescue measures," Shinde told media here

"There is excellent coordination between rescue teams. Our first priority was to evacuate more and more people and take them to safer areas. That job is almost done now and our focus is to clear debris and take out buried bodies," he added.

The Home Minister further said that all adequate measures are being taken to prevent the spread of epidemic in the most affected areas o the hill state.

Shinde also saluted the 20 brave IAF, ITBP and NDRF personnel, who died in a chopper crash on Tuesday while returning from a rescue mission.

Earlier, complimenting his troops for their tireless efforts in trying to save those affected by floods in Uttarakhand, Chief of Army Staff General Bikram Singh said the operation was carried out successfully under very trying circumstances.

"It was a difficult operation. What is to be appreciated is how all agencies joined hands to save lives," General Singh told media after interacting with officers and soldiers of the army, ITBP and the Air Force at Gauchar near Badrinath.

"They are doing a commendable job. The level of their commitment can be realised from the fact that despite personal losses, many of them refused to go on leave and rather chose to serve the nation," he added.

General Singh further said that the challenge was to rescue people from remote areas.

"There was no communication set up, places were difficult to reach but they went to most inaccessible areas to save people. The synergy was phenomenal," he added.

He further said that as of now 500 people are stuck in Harsil, while 2500-3000 more are stranded in Badrinath.

However, he pointed that they have adequate supplies of food and water and would be evacuated by air or the land route depending on the weather condition.

According to television reports, till now 1,04,687 persons have been evacuated from different places by road and air.

The process of performing of last rites of those killed in Kedarnath Valley continued, with about 34 bodies being consigned to flames till now, after completion of formalities like their identification and DNA sampling.