Excelsior Correspondent
Jammu, July 5: The Air Warriors of Air Force Station Jammu were deployed in ‘Operation Rahat’, the Rescue and Relief efforts launched on a massive scale in Uttarakhand, after heavy rains in the state from June 14 to 16, 2013 had wreaked havoc, causing widespread death and destruction.
Within a day of commencement of the operation, it had become clear that the rescue and relief mission ahead, was going to be unprecedented in scale, and the men and machines deployed by the IAF would have to be boosted up, in order to provide relief and succour to the thousands of stranded pilgrims and survivors, amidst the utter devastation caused by nature’s fury. The estimates of stranded survivors brought back by the initial sorties, led the IAF to quickly mobilise more helicopters from various Air Force stations.
On June 20, Helicopter Unit of Jammu Air Force base launched a Mi 17-1V helicopter, piloted by Sqn Ldr Shiv Shankaram and Flt Lt Shishir Tewari, to Dehradun, to provide relief and assistance, in the State. For the first two days, the helicopters operated in Kedarnath valley, airlifting the survivors from the worst affected area, the hutments surrounding the holy Kedarnath temple.
Having evacuated the entire Kedarnath valley, the helicopter of 130 HU was deployed at forward Heli-base Gauchar and was tasked to evacuate stranded pilgrims from the town of Badrinath. The helicopter of AF Stn Jammu, operated continuously for 10 days, evacuating thousands of pilgrims out of Guptkashi and Badrinath to safer locations at Joshimath, Gauchar and Dehradun.
The Mi 17-1V helicopter operated continuously for two weeks from dawn to dusk in the face of intermittent rain and poor visibility and treacherously narow valleys of Uttarakhand, bringing in hope and much needed relief supplies as well to the needy.
In the finest traditions of the IAF, and displaying true valour, grit, determination, Sqn Ldr Shiv Shankaram and his `team’: Flt Lt Shishir Tewari, Sqn Ldr Habin Thomas, WO Chandrashekar, JWO US Jaiswal, Sgt Pundhir, Sgt Rawat, Sgt Parmanik, Sgt RK Mishra, Cpl Ashish, LAC P Kumar, LAC AK Singh, LAC Debnath, LAC G Rai, flew a total of 74 sorties, supplying 25 tonnes of rations and relief materials, and inducted 99 NDRF and Police personnel into the flood zone, while bringing back 690 countrymen and pilgrims back to safety.
The Helicopter also had the honour of flying the IAF Chief Air Chief Marshal NAK Browne on a recce sortie of the flood affected areas, to assess the damage caused and the extent of flood relief operations required, as also to motivate the Air Warriors operating incessantly in the forward locations.
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