Relief work remains mired

DARCHULA PITTHORAGARH, AUG 20: Three days after the landslide in Malpa in which 200 people, including a 60-member team of pilgrims to K...

DARCHULA PITTHORAGARH, AUG 20: Three days after the landslide in Malpa in which 200 people, including a 60-member team of pilgrims to Kailash-Mansarovar, are feared killed, relief work continues to be at a standstill.

The district administration, the Indo-Tibetan Border Police ITBP, the Kumaon Mandal Vikas Nigam KMVN and local volunteers are anxiously awaiting the skies to clear, as any operation by road has become impossible in the wake of torrential rains.

Teams comprising the ITBP and Army jawans have only been able to reach Jipti, two km to Malpa. The Kali river is in spate in Malpa and the Gadera, a small monsoon stream, has become violent and forceful, damaging the culvert and cutting off Malpa from the rest of the world.

According to Jayati Chandra, commissioner, Kumaon Mandal, only ITBP jawans and trained Army personnel have managed to reach the site with the help of a temporary ropeway. But getting bodies back is impossible. The district administration volunteers are waiting on the otherside of the river.

Meanwhile, 50 Public Works Department labourers, under the supervision of an assistant engineer, are trying to rebuild the one-km stretch between Jipti and Malpa along with the Border Road Organisation. But the progress is slow. At least 50 trucks left Bareilly with engineers and specialised equipment to construct a bridge. They expect to reach tomorrow afternoon.

The other major concern is food. The 300 people who headed for relief work to Malpa immediately after the tragedy, which is a three-day trek from Dharchula, have been without food for the last two days.

8220;Food is prepared everyday, in the hope that the helicopter will come from Bareilly and take the food from the base camp at Pitthoragarh to the site of the mishap, but it goes waste,8221; said Jayati Chandra.

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As a precautionary measure, mules were dispatched from Darchula yesterday with stocks of puris and pickle, but will reach only tomorrow as the journey takes 48 hrs.

The other cause of concern is the ninth groupof pilgrims, which is stranded at Buddhi, higher than Malpa, and has been asked to trek back to Gunji towards the China border, in the hope that they will get food there.

The exact location and condition of the group is not known, as the wireless contact is not very good. However, as soon as the helicopters can fly, food will be dropped there.

Two helicopters could make a sortie to Malpa only late this evening, but could not land, because of heavy cloud cover. The Air Force is hopeful that things will improve tomorrow when they will make another attempt. At present, four helicopters are stationed at Darchula.

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The weather condition continues to remain grim, with rains and a heavy cloud cover. Boulders are still falling, blocking roads between Darchula and Tawaghat the last motorable road, further hampering relief work.

8220;We have made elaborate arrangements like medicine, first-aid, even fingerprinting and photographing the dead for identification, but so far, the difficulty in reaching the dead hasmade all these preparations futile,8221; said Lajpat Yadav, district magistrate, Pitthoragarh.

Buses are on standby in Pitthoragarh, to bring the missing persons8217; relatives from Bareilly.