Nishikant Khajuria
JAMMU, Sept 25: A vigorous operation for retrieval of the bodies of still missing 27 persons, who are feared dead in the massive landslide at village Saddal of Pancheri tehsil in Udhampur district a fortnight ago, is likely to be launched in next two three days as heavy machinery for the purpose is being pressed into service after developing a temporary link road to the devastation site.
According to the official sources, work on creating a temporary road for moving heavy machinery to Saddal hamlet is going on war footing and more than seventy five percent job in this regard has been finished till date.
A 2.5 kilometer long pathway is being developed for approaching Saddal from the camp site at Panjar and taking the heavy machinery to the devastation site for retrieval of bodies by removing debris that buried forty members of different families on the intervening night of September 6-7, sources added.
The work on retrieval of the bodies of missing persons has virtually been suspended for the last ten days as removal of heavy boulders was not possible manually while heavy machinery, required for the job, could not be taken to the site due to no approach road.
“As soon as remaining portion of the approach road is prepared, which is likely by Saturday or Sunday, the required heavy machinery will be pressed into service for retrieval of the bodies,” said Vikas Sharma, Additional Deputy Commissioner, Udhampur.
The District Administration had earlier requested the Indian Air Force to help in dropping heavy machinery at the site but the same could not be materialized due to some technical problems following which work on preparing a temporary approach road was started on war footing, he added.
Pertinent to mention that at village Saddal of Panjar in Pancheri tehsil of Udhampur district, a massive landslide had taken place on the intervening night of September 6-7 in which 40 people got buried alive The entire hamlet was perished in the devastation that affected 53 families.
So far, bodies of only 13 persons have been recovered from the site while 27 are still missing as the operation for retrieval was virtually suspended for the ten days due to difficulty being faced in manually removing heavy boulders.
Meanwhile, Udhampur District Administration is learnt to have sought clearance from Geological Survey of India for a site identified at nearby Panjar for the rehabilitation of affected families of Saddal.
A high level of team of GSI, which visited Udhampur on last Monday, was requested to clear the identified site on priority basis so that rehabilitation work could be started immediately for providing accommodation to the affected families before the onset of winters, sources said.
Since the Geological clearance is a lengthy process, which includes soil testing and other high level tests, the GSI has been requested to prepare a preliminary report within 15 days on safety of the identified site, sources further informed.
As a final decision on type of formations to be raised for rehabilitation of the affected families would be taken only after the GSI team submits its report, sources said adding that the District Administration is also mulling the option of pre-fabricated structures for accommodating the people.
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