Dehradun/New Delhi: Adequate steps have been taken to prevent outbreak of an epidemic in flood-hit Uttarakhand and there are no reports of any disease spreading, a senior official involved in the relief efforts said yesterday.
On his part, Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde said the evacuation of old people, women and children stranded in Badrinath was the top priority of teams involved in rescue efforts, with the army chief adding that this would depend on weather conditions.
According to National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) vice chairman M Shashidhar Reddy, “We have not received reports of any kind of epidemic. As a preventive measure, bleaching powder and chlorine tablets have been dispatched to various places to sanitise places wherever required. About 50 doctors are on standby, they will reach the local villages, and some of them might stay there for two to three months”.
According to NDMA, of the 20,000 villages in Uttarakhand, 2,395 have been affected in one way or another by the calamity. While 1,636 villages have been connected, 759 villages are yet to be reached.
“As the restoration of roads will take longer, the Border Road Organisation (BRO) has been told to at least provide new walking tracks or footpaths so supplies can be carried to villages,” Reddy said.
Heavy rains that hit Uttarakhand over three days from June 14, causing flash floods and landslides, have led to hundreds of deaths, while many are missing. There were thousands of pilgrims in Badrinath and Kedarnath areas when the tragedy struck.
Shinde said rescue efforts would continue in the rain-ravaged state for another 15 days.
Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif yesterday sent Prime Minister Manmohan Singh a message of condolence on the tragedy in Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh, saying that with the subcontinent getting increasingly prone to natural disasters, all Pakistanis “share the pain and anguish” of those suffering in the calamity.
Conveying his “deepest and heartfelt sympathies” to the families affected by floods and landslides, Sharif said he was confident that under the stewardship of Manmohan Singh, the people of India “would face this testing time with the utmost strength and fortitude”, said a Pakistan High Commission statement here.
In Lucknow, all members of Uttar Pradesh’s ruling Samajwadi Party pledged to give Rs1m each from their constituency development funds to Uttarakhand for relief work.
IANS
