NEW DELHI, June 28, 2013: Rescue personnel at Badrinath are working to persuade tourists and pilgrims to use the road route to leave the religious centre as helicopter sorties are being hampered by weather and turnaround time.

Officials said the choppers were now proving a time consuming means of moving people out of Badrinath as evacuees had to walk just about 7 km to reach the spot from where transport was being provided by the Border Roads Organization.

The Centre and state governments are now keen to press on with the more complex task of assessing damage to infrastructure and livelihood in the interiors of Uttarakhand where hundreds of villages have been affected by the June 17 rains.

The state is also gearing to dealing with aid that is likely to flood in. The government is drawing up a list of items that will prove useful and also seeing how these can be transported to the interiors.

Uttarakhand government has now designated two officers in Dehradun to deal with the aid influx and a school ground has been commandeered to receive assistance.

The task of restoring reliable communication, not the least for official purposes, is also urgent. The state has been lent around a 100 satellite phones by an international manufacturer for two weeks.

The Centre and the state are also drawing up a comprehensive health plan that is to be implemented over the next few weeks.

In the meanwhile, rescuers are still chancing upon small groups of tourists who are marooned at various spots like a bunch of Tamil visitors in Pithoragarh. Chief minister Vijay Bahuguna went to Dharchula to review the situation on Thursday.

Source: The Times of India, DT. June 28, 2013.