Hyderabad, June 25, 2013: Andhra Pradesh Disaster Management Commissioner T. Radha and his team of officials have tales of their own travails as they are engaged in relief operations for pilgrims from Andhra Pradesh stranded during the Char Dham Yatra.

First of all, they had to scour Dehradun for a full day’s accommodation before they could get a hotel room on Saturday. The city itself was battered by heavy downpour and all hotels were bursting at the seams as thousands of relatives and officials poured into the Uttarakhand capital.

Officials from almost all the States rushed to Dehradun at the behest of their respective governments. This resulted in a scramble for shelter, food, water and transport.

Describing the problems encountered by him and V. K. Ekbote, additional commissioner, Disaster Management, he said transport for pilgrims had proved to be a major hurdle. Ónly mini-buses had to be used to negotiate the hair-pin bends on the mountain roads. As they were all 12-seaters, only a dozen people could be sent at time. Another major hurdle was that they would travel at a very slow speed due to the bad condition of roads.

Mr. Radha held the view that the catastrophe could have been avoided if only the travel agencies had paid attention to the weather forecasts. The South-West monsoon advanced into Uttarakhand with vigour on June 15 and none bothered to pay heed to the heavy rainfall warning issued by the India Meteorological Department.

Weather once again turned rough in Dehradun and other areas on Monday, forcing authorities on Monday to restrict airlift operations. The IMD issued another forecast warning that heavy rains are likely on June 25 and 26.

Source: The Hindu, DT. June 25, 2013.