Wednesday, August 8, 2012

Uttarakhand CM Vijay Bahuguna visits of flood-hit areas

Uttarakhand Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna had to beat a hasty retreat after being confronted by angry cloudburst affected families in Uttarkashi on Wednesday.  

Unable to give satisfactory replies to the queries from the people, Bahuguna was forced to return from the entrance of the Gangotri village. Bahuguna's wish to inspect the main affected area in the village remained unfulfilled due to the public mood. The agitated villagers expressed their anger by burning an effigy of the chief minister in protest of his perfunctory visit to Gangori. 

The CM was on a one -day tour of disaster affected area in Uttarkashi on Wednesday. He arrived at Chinyalisaur by helicopter and after paying a brief air visit of Bhatwari, Bahuguna boarded a car from Uttarkashi and headed for Gangotri. After reaching Tekla, the CM had to walk about 100 metres to reach the village worst hit by the cloudburst. Bahuguna had barely reached the entrance of the village when the affected people surrounded him complaining about poor relief measures of the state government. 

The chief minister was not ready for the situation and decided to abandon his tour. His visit to Gangori concluded in less than ten minutes.  The villagers were agitated over the attitude of the Uttarkashi district administration, which was handling the disaster like routine a job, working during office hours only. The people were demanding round the clock rescue and relief operation. Despite a favourable weather, the affected people were still waiting for relief in Uttarkashi. 

In Gangotri 25 houses were washed away by the flash flood in the Bhagirathi river. The local administration was yet to restore water and electricity supply in 85 villages. Seven villages near Sangam Chatti remains cut off from the rest of the world. The August 3 cloudburst created havoc in Uttarkashi. The damage has been estimated at around Rs. 600 crore.

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