Uttaraconned

In its attempt to combat “Rambo” Narendra Modi, Congress flagged off relief trucks from Delhi without thinking about logistics.

So now, the trucks are stranded in Rishikesh. The drivers say they have run out of fuel and they don’t have money to buy food. And if things remain unchanged, the drivers say they will sell off the relief material.

Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and son Rahul flagged off some 24 trucks from the AICC headquarters here on Monday. More trucks with relief material joined the fleet in Dehradun at the Congress’ state headquarters. These trucks were sent by various Congress-led state governments.

But the trucks loaded with food, medicine, and clothes are now parked on the Haridwar-Rishikesh road, about 226km from Delhi. But, party workers manning the Congress’ relief cell maintain that the trucks cannot proceed because of bad or damaged roads and inclement weather.

“At many places, roads have vanished and it is not possible for vehicles to move,” said a senior Congress leader. He said the trucks are supposed to carry the relief material to Srinagar city in Uttarakhand’s Pauri Garwal district — another 106km from Rishikesh. 

But most of the drivers said they were hired to unload the relief material at Dehradun. “We were told to move to Srinagar only after we reached here,” a driver said. He said most trucks had run out of fuel and they did not even have money to buy food. “Nobody from the party or the government is here to provide guidance or aid.”

Even government officials manning relief and rescue in Uttrakhanad are surprised to see the fleet of trucks. How will they go when all roads and bridges have vanished, asked one official.

Another official said almost 1,100 small and big roads have been damaged in the floods. More than 90 bridges have been washed away. In Rudraprayag, 26 bridges are nowhere to be seen.

So far, army engineers and Border Roads Organisation men have set up makeshift roads and bridges to allow stranded people to cross over roaring streams to safer places. It is amazing that nobody in Delhi spared a moment to think how these trucks will reach affected areas, he said. 

In Delhi, Congress spokesman Sandeep Dikshit admitted he had no idea where the trucks were. “I don’t have any information but I know there are youth Congress members in Rudraprayag to take care of things,” he said.

A day after Rahul Gandhi returned from a foreign tour, the Congress had a big photo-op at the party headquarters on Monday while flagging off the trucks .

The Uttarakhand tragedy has turned into a game of political one-upmanship between Modi and Rahul Gandhi. Congress leaders were nervous when Rahul wasn’t in the country and Modi was hogging the limelight by supervising relief operations and evacuations. Modi’s supporters even claimed that he ensured the evacuation of 15,000 people from his state.

Though Congress has set up a control room in Dehradun to accelerate the relief work and secretary Sanjay Kapoor and party’s Seva Dal chief Mahendra Joshi are stationed there, the trucks are not moving.