Relief reach widens,problems persist

The floods have also destroyed several houses,shops,schools and crops in these villagers but most residents are safe,not least because they had taken shelter high up in the mountains or forests. They are now returning to their homes or whatever is left of them.

Four or five people were left in Gauri Gaon after pilgrims were evacuated from Kedarnath about 10 days ago but about 10 times as many residents have returned now.

Karan Saxena had gone to Gauri Gaon with his brother some days gao to see if we could identify my father among the bodies and to ascertain the state of our property. Saxena owned two hotels in the village. Everything is gone. There was no food except some biscuits in my shop. We came back in a couple of days, he said.

Police have set up a camp but till Tuesday,when Saxena returned,no relief had reached the village.

In several places,residents are trying to clear paths themselves. At Trijogi Narayan,12 km up from Sonprayag,villagers cleared the road of boulders and rubble to allow relief trucks reach. There were some potatoes and rice left in our shops and we managed with that till a few days after the flood, Ram Chand Semwal,deputy sarpanch at the village,said. When we saw relief trucks were getting stuck and there was no word from the government,we had no option but to start clearing the road.

The state government said it has sent 400 trucks with 10,043 metric tonnes of wheat,12,177 metric tonnes of rice and 837 metric tonnes of sugar besides kerosene and chlorine tablets to the affected areas. But most of them cant reach interior villagers absent access roads.

That,however,is not the only problem,particularly in Srinagar and Rudraprayag. The roads are bad and there are frequent landslides,so relief trucks slow down. In such situations,in many villages,people are harassing drivers and taking majority of the stock so not enough is left for interior villages, IG R S Meena said. SPs have now been told to remain alert to such incidents and patrol the routes of the trucks,Meena added.

In places serviced by helicopters,sources in the government said,relief material ends up being airdropped at spots that are impossible to access for the people such as amid boulders,in woods. Besides,sending relief to such places is entirely dependent on weather.

Will rebuild 10,000 houses,says Centre

NEW DELHI: The central government Thursday announced it would rebuild 10,000 houses in the flood-hit areas of Uttarakhand.

All affected municipalities and notified area councils can be covered under Rajiv Awas Yojana as a special case to support reconstruction of houses of the poor, Girija Vyas,minister for housing and urban poverty alleviation,said. She also said that her ministry would arrange soft loans of Rs 3,000 crore for Uttarakhand. ENS