New Delhi, June 23, 2013: Rescue teams will take another fortnight to evacuate flood victims as the roads leading to affected areas have been badly damaged, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna has said.

He also said, “Those who are stuck in certain areas in Uttarakhand, there is no threat to their lives.”

Mr. Bahuguna said, “It’s very tragic that so many people have died in this calamity. It will take a long time to rebuild Uttarakhand,” adding that the holy town of Kedarnath has suffered the worst.

There will be no Kedarnath Yatra for at least next two years, he told Karan Thapar on CNN-IBN’s Devil’s Advocate programme.

“It will take another 15 days for the rescue teams to evacuate flood victims as the roads leading to the affected areas have been damaged badly,” Mr. Bahuguna said.

On the death toll, the Chief Minister said, “There are reports that more could be buried under the debris.”

On his government receiving a warning in advance from the weather office, he said, “We were not warned about any cloud burst.”

About the lack of preparedness of the state in dealing with such tragedies, he said that the state was “very close to putting up a Doppler radar but there were certain concerns by various ministries.”

The Chief Minister denied any delay on the part of the state in sending rescue teams. “The magnitude of the calamity is so huge that not even the Government of India has a force which can handle such a situation”.

Sources: The Hindu, DT. June 23, 2013.