Centre asks rescue agencies to quell rumours

Wary of terror networks getting activated to take advantage of the widespread misery in J&K, the Centre has asked the state government and all government agencies involved in the rescue and relief work to counter rumour mongering by engaging through social media and other platforms.

Quelling rumours of any sort of bias, a Major posted at the Badami Bagh cantonment told dna over phone, "In fact, because of total focus on saving the civilians, the higher rank officers of the Army had to face tough situation to control the tempers of jawans who were upset for being neglected."

The disaster management division officials denied reports of any kind of bias during rescue operations.

"The brief to all the agencies is to first rescue civilians from the worst affected low lying areas on priority basis and then go for those who are comparatively better. According to the severity of floods, the areas have been divided in three categories – grim, under control and rescued and divided among all the rescue agencies," the official said.

In Srinagar, 11 localities, including Badami Bagh, Shivpora, Ram Munshi Bagh, Batwara, Soitang, Gandbal, Pani Mandir, Sonawar Bagh, MES Colony, Army School and Chinar shopping Complex have been declared critical as the water levels are still very high there. NDRF is continuously plying 25 rescue boats in these areas.

An official of the ministry of home affairs, the nodal agencies to handle disasters, said, communication lines are expected to slowly come to life as BSNL official sent from centre have been told to install equipment on higher and dry areas by itself if it is unable to find assistance from the local telecom officials.

The NDRF on Wednesday rescued several hundred people from Pulwama, Awantipura and Anantnag taking the total number of people rescued by them to 18,500.

"We have got distress call from 26 tourists who are stranded at Mt. View hotel in Pehalgam. A team has been sent to rescue them," an NDRF official said.

The officials conceded of coming across several instances of stone pelting on rescue teams but said that they have asked the security agencies to take this in stride as this is bound to happen when people get stranded without food, water and other life supports.

In all, armed forces have rescued 77,000 people so far, while over 3 lakh still remain stranded.

NDRF has deployed more than 1000 trained rescuers with 150 boats divided into 22 rescue teams in the rescue and evacuation operation. 17 urban search and rescue teams have been deployed in Srinagar city alone while 03 teams are in Jammu and 02 teams in Awantipura areas.

About 80 aircraft deployed by the IAF have undertaken 710 sorties so far and 807 tonnes of relief materials were dropped by the Indian Air Force. They air dropped 2,10,000 litres of water, 2.6 tonne of biscuit, 7 tonne baby food and 31,000 food packets in the flood affected areas.135 Army boats and 148 NDRF's inflatable boats are actively involved in the ongoing rescue operation.

To restore the road connectivity, five task forces of Border Roads Organisation, which include 5700 personnel, have been pressed into service. They have managed to restore road connectivity between Batote – Kishtwar and Kishtwar - Sinthan Pass. Work between Sinthan Pass and Anantnag is in progress.