NEW DELHI, Oct 7: The central government is closely
monitoring the situation in Sikkim, where a cloudburst and
floods led to severe destruction and deaths, and providing all
the necessary support and assistance to the state, Union
minister of state for home Ajay Kumar Mishra said on Saturday.
Mishra, who is currently visiting the areas hit by Glacial Lake
Outburst Flood (GLOF), cloud burst and flash floods, also said
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union home minister Amit
Shah are in constant touch with Sikkim chief minister Prem
Singh Tamang with regard to the extent of damages and rescue
and relief work.
The government of India under Prime Minister Modi is standing
in solidarity with the people of Sikkim and leaving no stone
unturned to restore normalcy in the state, according to an
official release.
Within a day of the incident, Home Minister Shah has deputed
Mishra to visit Sikkim.
Mishra reached Gangtok on Friday night, and chaired a meeting
with the chief secretary and head of departments concerned of
the state government, and senior officers of the Army, ITBP,
BRO, NHIDCL and NHPC at Gangtok, this morning.
He informed that the government of India has constituted an
Inter-Ministerial Central Team comprising senior officers of five
central ministries — Agriculture, Road Transport & Highways, Jal
Shakti, Energy and Finance.
The team will visit the state from Sunday, October 8, to take
stock of the ground situation, assess the damages and provide
assistance wherever necessary.
The minister said the central government has granted an
advance sanction of the allocated SDRF for 2023-24 to enable
the state to carry out immediate rescue, relief and restoration.
He said the central government under Prime Minister Modi
urged the state government officials to prepare a short term
and long-term plan to effectively accomplish the task of re-
building the damaged and lost infrastructure in the shortest
possible time.
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Earlier, chief secretary, Sikkim briefed the Union minister of
state about the sequence of events since the early hours of
October 4 that led to the disaster, and the extent of damages,
the release said.
He apprised the Union MoS about the extensive damages to
roads and other vital infrastructures like telecommunication,
water and electricity.
He informed about the casualties and the status of the relief
camps. Further, he delivered a comprehensive summary of the
steps being taken by the state government in active
coordination with the army, NDRF, BRO, ITBP and all other
agencies.
In the afternoon, Mishra visited the Army camp at Burdong
where maximum casualties have happened.
He is slated to meet the chief minister on October 8 and will
visit affected areas and relief camps.
The ITBP has carried out rescue operation right from October 4
night itself, and evacuated more than 175 people, and they are
running relief centres within their different camps, the release
said.
A total of 40 people were stranded into a totally cut off area,
they were rescued through highly dangerous terrain, and
evacuated through rough rivers through cables and ropes.
Six people, who were trapped on the other side of dam tunnel,
were rescued. Sixty-eight people were stranded at Zanak, which
is at 16,000 feet height, and everyone was rescued and brought
to ITBP camp at Goma.
Four stranded families were brought to Lachung BOP of ITBP
and they are camping there. Four teams of NDRF are deployed
and they have also rescued 178 people.
Tourist are facilitated to contact their relatives over satellite
phones from Lachung and two different locations of ITBP and
Indian Army.
Indian Air Force helicopters are on standby to launch air rescue,
subject to weather conditions.
Army personnel along with necessary search and rescue
equipment are assisting state administration in restoration
work, the release said. (PTI)
