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Unsung heroes of NDRF to rescue of stranded in flood-hit Himachal
A team of 420 National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) members have been rescuing stranded people in Himachal Pradesh amid heavy rain and floods. Over 70,000 tourists have been evacuated from the region so far. The NDRF team has also planted 500 saplings on its campus as part of a green campaign. The state government has been trying to strengthen its disaster response force for the past 30 years but has been unsuccessful due to a lack of political will.
Amid the destruction caused by flash floods and torrential rain in Himachal Pradesh over the past 10 days, a 420-member team of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) deployed in the state has been relentlessly reaching out to stranded people, many of them tourists, and carrying out rescue operations while braving the elements.
According to chief minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, more than 70,000 tourists have been evacuated from the state since the unprecedented rain across the state on July 9 and 10. Of the total average rainfall of 734.4mm, the state received 223mm of rainfall against its normal rainfall of 41.6mm during the period with a deviation of 436%, which is unprecedented.
Evacuation in tough terrain
Whether it was the rescue operation at Kasol village, popular with foreign tourists, or the search and evacuation of shepherds in the high-altitude regions of Lahaul and Spiti district’s Miyar Valley, the NDRF personnel successfully brought people back safely from treacherous conditions.
The NDRF team found 10 shepherds in the Trikonath area, while they were returning from Kugti Jot from the Bharmour side. Another 10 shepherds were located at a height of 15,910-ft Baralacha region. Twenty shepherds were rescued from 11,000-ft Pin Bhabha. “Around 60-70 shepherds found themselves stranded with limited supplies between Gramphu and Batal. To address this urgent situation, a team consisting of revenue officials, forest officials, police, mountaineering institute, local volunteers, pharmacists, veterinary pharmacists, and BRO staff was formed. The objective was to locate the shepherds and provide them with a week’s ration and medicine,” said DC Rana, the director of the State Disaster Management Authority. He said in all this, the NDRF’s rescue work was commendable.
The force rescued 30 people stranded at Miani in the Beas river, downstream of Pong Dam. Fifteen people were evacuated from Ghandra in Indora sub division of Kangra district. It carried out rescue operations to evacuate 15 people by boat in Miani.
“The work of the NDRF is laudable and scores of local people are also assisting them in rescue work,” said Abhishek Trivedi, the additional director general of police, law and order.
Undertakes green campaign
Apart from carrying out the rescue work, the NDRF has planted about 500 saplings on its campus at Salapar in Mandi district.
Officials said the NDRF teams at Kangra, Mandi, Shimla and Solan have planted more than 1,800 saplings.
For three decades, the Himachal Pradesh government has been trying to strengthen three companies of the state disaster response force (SDRF) stations in Kangra, Shimla and Pandoh but due to a lack of political will, it has not been able to do so in the disaster-prone region.
