DEHRADUN, July 8, 2013: A 52-member batch of Kailash Mansarovar pilgrims has been stuck in Gunji town, 120 km from Pithoragarh, since July 4 due to landslides triggered by incessant rainfall over the past five days. The pilgrims are on their way back to Pithoragarh. 

"Gunji has become inaccessible after all connecting roads leading to the town were washed away due to heavy landslides caused by incessant rains in the region," said a senior manager of the Kumaon Mandal Vikas Nigam in Nainital. 

An ITBP officer in Pithoragarh said it had so far not been possible to rescue the trapped pilgrims. "Once it stops raining and the weather becomes normal, we will airlift all stuck pilgrims from Gunji to Pithoragarh," he said. The officer said although the pilgrims were staying at an ITBP guesthouse they might face a shortage of ration supplies if they were not airlifted within a day or two. 

A report reaching Pithoragarh district headquarters said 500 other people — from more than 15 far-flung and remote villages — were stuck in the region since all connecting roads had been washed way by the landslides. A district officer said Bundi, Gala, Duktu, Shobha, Nangleri, Milam and Sirkha villages had been the most affected. These villages come under Pithoragarh and Munsari tehsils in the district. 

Residents of these villages complained about the state government's inability to air-drop food grains and relief supplies to them. "What is the use of declaring these villages as 'most-affected' unless we are regularly provided food grains and other relief supplies, at least till all roads leading to the villages are properly repaired and drinking water and electricity connectivity is restored?" said 56-year-old M S Bisht in Pithoragarh's Dharchula town. 

These residents said while the government had channeled its entire energy in the rescue operations in the flood-ravaged Rudrapryag, Chamoli and Uttarkashi districts, their part of the state had been ignored. "The government must come forward to step up rescue operations to take out hundreds of survivors trapped in different villages in the district," said a district officer in Pithoragarh. 

Rain disrupts rescue efforts 

Heavy rainfall continued to disrupt the air-dropping of relief materials in over 1,000 flood-affected villages in Rudrapryag, Chamoli and Uttarkashi districts. Chief secretary Subhash Kumar told TOI most residents in these villages had been complaining of a shortage of food grains and other relief supplies. "Once the weather is normal, we will be able to supply more than enough quantities of food grains to these villages," Kumar said. 

Source: The Times of India, DT. July 8, 2013.