Its race against time in U'khand amid warning of heavy rains

The work to provide succour to people affected from the colossal tragedy in Uttarakhand was on at war footing as choppers and trucks supplying relief material were running against time as fresh threat of heavy rains loomed large over the state.
Trucks carrying relief material are unloaded at five nodal points-- Goachar, Karnaprayag, Joshimath, Gopeshwar and Gwaldam, from where it was being dispatched in choppers to affected areas.
Amid fears that fresh spell of rains could again block roads, the authorities are racing against time to provide relief to flood-hit people.
The advisory issued by Uttarakhand Chief Secretary Subhash Kumar said, "Meteorological department has predicted that in the coming 72 hours, there is possibility of heavy rains (70-90 mm) at some places of Chamoli and Kumaon region, especially Pithoragarh, Champawat, Nainital and Udhamsingh Nagar districts."

Medium rain fall (20-40 mm) is predicted at several places over Uttarakhand. District Magistrates and Senior Superintendents of Police are alerted to keep people at safe places and ensure no more loss of property and lives.
The state government claimed there is no shortage of food in any affected area. Wheat stock of 10043.3 metric tonnes, rice stock of 12176.8 MT, sugar of 837.3 MT is available in the rain hit areas, an official release said.

In addition to this, 344.2 kilo litres of kerosene and 48943 LPG cylinders are available at the district level. Apart from this, more than 309 trucks carrying relief material have been dispatched to affected districts.

9.4 lakh litres of diesel and 4.76 lakh litres of petrol have been made available to the affected areas.
Rs 103 crore have been released by the state government for relief operations, it said.
District Magistrates have been given a free hand to spend the amount on relief operations.
However, according to the reports reaching here, people in villages are not getting the relief materials.
With a large number of routes, including Srinagar-Rudraprayag road closed, the administration is depending exclusively on helicopters for distribution of relief material.
The material being dropped by the chopper was also not reaching the needy as the stuff was airdropped at places rendered inaccessible by breached roads.