Shinde to visit Uttarakhand tomorrow

Union Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde will visit Uttarakhand on Saturday, said (NDMA) Vice-President M.S. Reddy.

Meanwhile, two army columns are being deployed at the Pindari Glacier to evacuate 30 to 35 stranded people. The Army is planning drop food and evacuate stranded people by helicopters. About 45 more paratroopers have taken off from Jolly Grant Airport to Gaucher. They will further more into Gaurikund.

Earlier, Union Water Resources Minister Harish Rawat on Friday played safe on reports that Uttarakhand has had no disaster management plan worth its name despite the region being highly disaster prone due to fragile mountains, tectonic activity and climatic events, saying the priority at the moment is to ensure that the people stranded are rescued and rehabilitated.

Rawat said that he would not like to comment on these matters now.

" I would just like to say that rescue operations are being conducted there with full power. The biggest question before us is to rescue and save the lives of all those stranded there," he said.

The Congress MP from Haridwar said Uttarakhand is working unitedly in the rescue operations.

"It is the nature's rage and everybody understands this. So, the Centre and the state government should at this point of time work unitedly to ensure that those affected are rescued and rehabilitated," he added.