MI-26 winds up operations in Kedarnath

IAF 's biggest load carrier MI-26 today wound up its fortnight long operations at Kedarnath during which it made 16 sorties from Gauchar to the Himalayan shrine to unload construction equipment weighing 134 tonnes to give pace to reconstruction work going on near the temple.
Uttarakhand Chief Minister Harish Rawat accorded farewell to the team led by wing commander G S Tung at a simple function held at Gauchar airstrip from where the MI-26 chopper made sorties to the famed temple over the past fortnight.
Speaking on the occasion, the Chief Minister congratulated the team for successfully completing the assignment in snow-bound conditions and freezing weather.

"The IAF team and the Nehru Institute of Mountaineering (NIM) bravehearts have scripted history by carrying out their operations despite inclement weather at such great heights," he said.
He presented the team with a memento and a picture of Badri-Kedar temples on successful completion of their mission.
The exercise had begun on January 5 to impart much needed pace to reconstruction work at the Himalayan temple which was witness to massive devastation in the wake of the 2013 disaster.