*MI-26 pressed into service for first time in rescue mission
Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, Sept 10: Army chief Gen Dalbir Singh Suhag today declared that Army would stay in Srinagar and other flood affected parts of the Kashmir Valley till last person was rescued to safety and to achieve the mission the troops would work day and night irrespective of the weather conditions.
Speaking to reporters briefly in Srinagar after aerial survey of flood affected areas and high level review of the situation with top Army Commanders including Northern Command chief Lt Gen DS Hooda, GOC 15 Corps Lt Gen Subroto Saha among others, Gen Suhag said the flood situation is improving in the Kashmir Valley with water level receding.
“We are here to provide every kind of relief to the people. We will stay in Srinagar till the last person is rescued to safety and situation improves completely. Our jawans will work round-the-clock to rescue the people and provide them relief,” Gen Suhag said.
He added that the flood situation in Kashmir is “improving” and stressed upon the need to supply affected people with food, water and medicines.
This was second visit of the Army chief to review rescue and relief operations by the Army in Jammu and Kashmir. He had visited the State on Sunday, conducted aerial survey of flood hit areas in Jammu and Srinagar and reviewed the situation with top Army Commanders.
Gen Suhag expressed confidence that situation will improve “quite a lot” in two to three days.
“It (situation) is improving. Water level is receding. I was here three days back and from then to now the water level has come down four to five feet or six feet at some places. So things are improving and they will further improve in the next couple of days if the weather behaves,” he said.
Suhag, however, emphasised on the need to carry relief material to the rescued people.
“What is required is we need to supply food, water and medicine to people who need that,” he said, adding that Army was taking full care of people under its watch and augmented its medical facilities to meet the challenge.
The Army chief said the road network within the Valley would be motorable for lighter vehicles by tomorrow and the broken-down communication network will be restored to a large extent in two to three days.
The Army Commanders apprised Gen Suhag that as many as 239 Army columns have been deployed in Jammu and Kashmir along with 80 medical teams and so far about 58,000 persons have been rescued and 9,550 provided medical aid in the Kashmir Valley.
In Srinagar, the Army has deployed additional 89 boat teams, the Commanders briefed the Army chief.
So far, more than 9,500 persons have been rescued from Srinagar alone while 2,000 others have been provided shelter in Badamibagh Cantonment.
As many as 355 persons requiring immediate medical attention have been evacuated by Army Aviation helicopters till now.
Thanking people for showing trust in the Indian Army, Lt Gen Hooda said the force will attempt to rescue every stranded person in flood-hit Jammu and Kashmir and asked people to be patient.
“Thank you for your trust in the Indian Army. We assure you that your Army will attempt to rescue each and every one,” he said in a message.
“Your Army is working to a plan and a priority of rescue. Since the scope of this rescue operation is massive, we have had to prioritise our efforts both in terms of areas and persons,” he said.
“Critical areas need to be addressed first; the old, the infirm, women and children need to be evacuated earlier,” he said, adding, “We are aware that you are concerned for your near and dear ones, your Army is concerned for all our citizens”.
“We request you to be patient, we will reach them,” he added.
Meanwhile, reliable sources admitted that despite massive efforts put in by Army and IAF to rescue the civilians and provide relief to them in Srinagar, the efforts were getting delayed as civil and police administration was completely incommunicado.
“The civil and police officials should guide the troops but this part is absolutely missing. Army and IAF are operating alone. There is no visibility of civil and police administration. This was delaying the relief and rescue operations but hopefully, we will do the job on our own in the shortest possible time,” they said.
Till late tonight when the reports last came in, 76,500 persons had been rescued by Army, IAF and NDRF from different parts of Jammu and Kashmir including Srinagar while deployment of Army has gone up to 329 columns, of which, 244 were deployed in Kashmir, mostly in Srinagar and 85 in Jammu region, Defence spokesman (MoD) Col SD Goswami said.
He added that 79 transport aircrafts and helicopter of Indian Air Force and Army Aviation Corps have been pressed into service on rescue and relief missions.
Army and IAF have so far airdropped tons and tons of relief material in different flood affected areas. Today only, Army distributed 8200 blankets, 650 tents , 1.5 lakh liters water, 2.6 tons biscuits, 7 tons baby food and several other items.
Defence PRO Jammu Col Manish Mehta said additional water bottles are being airlifted from Chandigarh and New Delhi. He added that 80 Medical teams of Armed Forces and Medical Services were also providing medical treatment to flood affected victims.
“More relief material including 2000 hospital bed sheets, blankets and tents, water bottles and cooked food were airlifted today,” Col Mehta said.
Sources said the helicopters have so far made 613 sorties on rescue and relief missions during which 715 tons of relief material has been airdropped by the IAF.
They added that five Task Forces of Border Roads Organisation comprising 5700 personnel were working to restore various snapped road links.
“As of now, the BRO personnel have restored road connectivity between Jammu-Kishtwar and Kishtwar-Sinthan Pass. Work between Sinthan Pass and Anantnag is in progress. Also work at 172 kilometers point on Jammu-Srinagar National Highway is also in progress while Jammu-Poonch road has been restored for traffic,” sources said, adding that 15 teams of Engineering Task Force along with boats and other life saving equipments have already reached flood affected areas to supplement rescue operation.
Meanwhile, world’s biggest helicopter MI-26, capable of carrying heavy load, was today deployed for the ongoing relief operations in flood-hit Jammu and Kashmir by Chandigarh-based 12 Wing of the Indian Air Force for the first time in relief and rescue operations in Jammu and Kashmir.
The MI-26 will be operating ex-Awantipur in Kashmir and will prove to be very effective in flood relief, a Defence release said.
“This will also assist in infrastructure development as it can carry heavy machinery and load in single sortie. This is world’s biggest helicopter and can lift 30 tons of load,” it said.
The MI-26 was also used during rescue operations at the time of Uttarakhand’s natural calamity last year.
“The deployment of MI-26 will help in speedy repair of road bridges and other essential infrastructure, in addition to supply of essentials,” it said.
“The IAF has been conducting non-stop sorties during the past four days to evacuate people from flooded areas of Srinagar,” the relief said.
The 12 Wing has also opened a relief camp at Chandigarh Air Force Station and the rescued people who are brought here are being given medical facilities and food while their transportation for onward journey by bus and rail is also arranged, he said.
Both the squadrons of 12 Wing-48 Squadron (AN-32) and 44 Squadron (IL-76)- have been conducting non-stop sorties to provide assistance in the relief and rescue operations, the officer added.
Meanwhile, the IAF helicopters today rescued 750 more people of Jammu and tourists of others States from Srinagar and brought them to Jammu taking total number of persons evacuated here during last three days to 1818. The IAF sorties continued round the clock and were bringing the trapped persons of Jammu and tourists of other States here on their return journey from Srinagar after airdropping relief material.
The passengers, however, said that the IAF should deploy big aircrafts to bring back the trapped people of Jammu and tourists instead of small choppers so that the people could be brought back here in more numbers.
Follow our WhatsApp channel