Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Sept 13: General-Officer-Comman-ding (GOC) of Nagrota based 16 Corps Lt Gen K H Singh today said that situation in Jammu region is almost coming to normalcy, where the Army has rescued 18,736 people in the region.
”Situation is returning to near normalcy and is under control in the areas under the jurisdiction of 16 Corps while all major roads in South Pir Panchal have been restored,” Lt Gen Singh told reporters at 16 Corps headquarters here this morning.
He further said that Ramsu and Kotranka areas are still the obstruction where a bridge was collapsed, adding, ”nearly 200-250 meter stretch of highway in Ramsu was washed away snapping the road connectivity between Kashmir and other parts of the country but Army is on job to restore the road connectivity”.
He said that so far 18,736 people have been rescued by the Army across the region while around 250 people were rescued last night from Kishtwar.
He further said that in all 14 relief camps were set up across Jammu region while 39,714 people were provided relief and 4 more relief camps are in progress.
”People affected due to natural calamity is being provided medical support as medical camps are under progress at various locations,” he added and said that the Sinthan Pass was yesterday thrown open for traffic.
Mughal road is yet to be operational, he said.
The GOC said that Army and BRO are on job in opening the National highway to Kashmir valley and it would take another 3-4 days for opening of road for light motor vehicles.
Lt Gen Singh said that medical assistance has been provided to around 7800 people so far while rescue and relief operations are being coordinated with the civil administration.
”Our commitment is to provide medical facility and relief to each and every individual affected by the natural calamity and once, all the roads will be opened for traffic, more people will join and assist the administration in providing relief to the affected families,” he added.
He however, did not assure the opening of the Jammu-Srinagar national highway for the heavy vehicles immediately.
Meanwhile, over 1.42 lakh people have been rescued from the flood-ravaged parts of Jammu and Kashmir so far, as the relief operations launched by the Armed forces entered the 12th day today.
Army, meanwhile, continued to rescue several persons through closed Jammu-Srinagar National Highway. The civilians, who were reaching Ramsu from Kashmir Valley in buses or on foot were being provided with relief by the Army and after trekking the hills, they were being transported to Udhampur and Jammu for their onward journey.
Using this modus operandi, Army has so far rescued more than 35,000 civilians including several labourers from Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Odisha etc. Still, the rush of people continued to pour in at Ramsu, sources said.
“Army, IAF and NDRF have so far rescued over 1,42,000 persons from different parts of J&K in the ongoing rescue and relief operations,” Defence spokesman (MoD) Col SD Goswami said.
Thirteen tonnes of water purifying tablets and six water filtration plants with a capacity to filter 1.2 lakh bottles per day has already reached Srinagar, he said.
Suction pumps and other engineering equipment from Vishakhapatnam have also reached the flood affected area for relief work, he said, adding twelve sewage pumps from Delhi have also been dispatched to the Valley.
PRO Defence Jammu Col Manish Mehta said communication equipment of Department of Telecommunication, Army, BSNL and some private companies have also been dispatched to restore the network.
Also, thirty generator sets of 3 to 5 KVA capacity have been sent to Srinagar to provide continuous power supply in relief camps and field hospitals, he added.
Besides these, as many as 8,200 blankets and 1,119 tents have been provided to the flood victims, he said, adding, 80 medical teams of the Armed Forces Medical Services are already operating in full swing, Col Mehta said..
Four field hospitals have been established in Avantipur, Pattan, Anantnag and Old Airfield where medical aid is being provided to the ailing people, he said, adding that till now, they have treated more than 22,500 patients.
Military medical services from Bathinda have also been shifted to Srinagar, he said, adding that about 10 tonnes of medicines and other health care materials, including mobile oxygen generation plant, have reached Srinagar from Delhi.
The water bottles from IRCTC and food packets, are being airlifted from Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Baroda and Amritsar, sources said.
25 tonnes of Indian gram (channa) from NAFED is also being transported to the flood affected areas.
Eighty six transport aircraft and helicopters of Indian Air Force and Army Aviation Corps are continuing their efforts in rescue and relief operations, sources said, adding, Army has deployed around 30,000 troops for rescue and relief operations, of which 21,000 troops are deployed in Srinagar region and 9,000 troops in Jammu region.
Armed Forces personnel are distributing water bottles and food packets on a large scale, sources said, adding, that till now, more than 4,00,000 liters of water, 1,31,500 food packets and over 800 tonnes cooked food have been airdropped and distributed in the flood-affected areas.
So far, 1771 sorties were undertaken by helicopters and aircraft of Armed Forces and 2371 tonnes of relief materials airdropped by the Indian Air Force, they said.
A total of 224 boats of Army and 148 NDRF’s inflatable boats have also been put into service.
Armed Forces have also established 19 relief camps in Srinagar and Jammu region.
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