The Armed Forces today continued their rescue and relief operations in the worst affected areas ofUttarakhand and Himachal Pradeshon awar footing. The present status of aid at 1800 Hrs on 21 June 2013 is as follows:
ASSISTANCE PROVIDED BY THE ARMY
- Approximately 16,000persons have been rescued so far by Road and Army Helicopters.
- 115Helicopters Sorties have been carried out so far.
- Paratroopers have been dropped at Rudraprayag-Kedarnath.
- Plugging of Breach on Shivpuri Bund at Laksar is under progress.
- Army Aviation is operating in Pithoragarh, Joshimath, Dharchula&Gaucher and approximately 100 Paratroopers inserted in small teams to cut off areas.
- 6650 Kg of relief material provided.
The Army has taken following actions at Pooh Sector in Himachal Pradesh:
- Restoration of BSNL communication.
- Snow/boulder clearance.
- Clearance of helipads.
- Establishment of three Radio detachments at critical Areas.
- Flood monitoring detachments activated at Lepcha, Sumbo, Shipkila&Khab.
ASSISTANCE PROVIDED BY THE AIR FORCE
- IAF has committed 13 more aircraft to 30 aircraft already carrying out the relief and rescue efforts taking the total number of aircraft to 43 which includes 36 rotary wing aircraft( 23 Mi 17IV/Mi 17 V5, 11 ALH, 01 Cheetah, 01 Mi 26), two C130Js, three AN 32, one AVRO and one IL76.
- As on today – total of about 185 sorties have been flown since morning inducting 332 rescue workers and evacuating 1357 persons which also included one pilot of a civil aircraft that crashed at Junglejatti nearKedarnath.
- IAF is also activating landing grounds – Gauchar and Dharasuin Uttarakhand to establish air bridge for chopper movement and plans to operate ALH and Cheetah from Gaucher.
- A heavyliftMi- 26 has already landed at Gaucher with 30 barrels of fuel and 70 paratroppers.
- A C130J committed to recce mission to check valley clearance and facilitate further relief and rescue operations is also planned to land at Dharasu.
- Mi 26 will continue to operate in this area to maintain supply of aviation fuel and rescue work and will also provide helilift to the heavy equipment of BRO for repairs and construction work as well as support construction of temporary helipads for better extraction of those stuck or stranded using small helicopters.
- IAF has also started operating detachments at Pithoragarh and Joshimath.
- IAF also dropped 500 Kg food packets and 8000 Kgs air landed
- 96 barrels of fuel positioned at Jolly Grant by two AN 32.
- At Shimla Detachment three shuttles were detailed from Rampur to Sangla. Three helicopters are operating ex Rampur and focus is on Changla and Pooh axis.