DEHRADUN, Aug 3:
Relief operations in Uttarakhand got the much-needed pace as the weather cleared up today even as Almora SDM Ajay Arora, who fell into Mandakini river three days ago, remained untraced.
A 14-member team of trained PAC divers flown to scour the Mandakini in Sonprayag, Gaurikund and Phata areas in a bid to look for the SDM have not yet been able to find him, District Disaster Management Officer Meera Kaintura said.
A body was recovered from Mandakini yesterday but it was not that of the missing official, she said.
Police have been alerted and asked to comb the river close to the banks in search of the official who fell into the river while returning from the Himalayan shrine of Kedarnath to Garurchatti basecamp on Wednesday afternoon .
The weather cleared up at most places across Uttarakhand expediting relief operations but most of the rivers, including the Mandakini, Alaknanda and Bhagirathi, were in spate following heavy overnight rains.
However, it rained heavily in Dehradun this afternoon, leaving major roads in the city waterlogged.
Sporadic overnight rains continued bringing debris from the hills on to the roads blocking them at places.
The Rishikesh-Kedarnath highway is blocked due to debris at Sirubagad, Naulapani and Agastyamuni whereas Gopeshwar-Kund motorway is blocked at Mastura and Mayali-Guptkashi road obstructed at Sumadi, state Disaster Management and Mitigation Centre said, adding similar is the condition of Rishikesh-Badrinath highway in Chamoli and Rishikesh-Gangotri road in Uttarkashi.
As relief operations gained momentum, rations were supplied to affected areas by air, officials here said.
Rehabilitation efforts in the calamity-hit State also picked up with the State Government deciding to identify land to relocate villages swept away by the June flashfloods and launch vocational schemes for women designed to help those who lost their husbands or breadwinners in the tragedy.
Announcing this at a press conference here today Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna said women who lost their husbands or breadwinners in the tragedy are being identified and registered so that they could benefit from the rehabiliation schemes.
With the process of evacuating people stranded in high altitude areas being over, the priority of the Government now is to put life back on track in flood-ravaged areas, he said.
Land banks (areas where land for relocation purposes is available) will soon be identified and the process of rehabilitating people rendered homeless by the calamity will begin at the earliest, Bahuguna said.
The DMMC said out of 233 drinking water schemes, 171 schemes out of 198 in Garhwal Mandal and 12 out of 35 in Kuamaon region have been restarted. Work is on to start the remaining 50 schemes.
Out of total 2224 obstructed roads due to disaster, 1857 are functional again. Work is in progress to reopen the remaining 367 roads.
Due to the disaster, 4,200 villages have been cut off by road.
Though 3805 villages have been reconnected, work is underway to reconnect 395 villages to roads. (PTI)
Follow our WhatsApp channel