Modi to Bring back Uttarakhand Flood Victims

Senior BJP leader cum Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi has intimated through his official website that he is leaving for Uttarakhand on Friday 21^st June 2013 to rescue and bring back the Gujarati flood victims. He also shared that the Gujarat Government has organized special aircrafts to get back people who were stranded in Uttarakhand in the wake of the devastating flood.

Modi tweeted, “Will be leaving for Uttarakhand today.” About the special flights he wrote, “Gujarat Government is organizing special flights from Dehradun to Ahmadabad to bring back those affected by floods, giving preference to women & children.”

The posting says that a 17-seater airplane sponsored by Gujarat government will bring back Gujarati families from Dehradun to Ahmadabad without any charge on Friday 4:30 evening. If necessary, the plane will also take a second flight.

As per the reports, another 135-seater plane will also fly on Saturday 7:30 morning to bring back Gujarati families from Dehradoon to Ahmadabad. If necessary, such flights will be continued further.

Earlier, Shri Modi had announced an assistance of Rs. 2 crore from the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund for the flood victims. He had also spoken to the Uttarakhand Chief Minister Shri Vijay Bahuguna and offered all possible support to cope with this disaster. In addition, a team of five senior officials from Gujarat is already in Uttarakhand to coordinate relief work there.

In the meanwhile it has also been reported that the rescue teams in Uttarakhand are troubled by calls from influential people including politicians, bureaucrats and other government officials to rescue their kin first even though their kin were not caught in an emergency situation.

An officer overseeing rescue work in Uttarakhand said "We are receiving messages that such and such person is staying in a particular room in a certain hotel at Badrinath or Yamunotri and needs to rescued urgently. If you are in a hotel room, getting food and sleep, why do you need to be rescued urgently? We can understand the panic among family members caught in such situations, but there are people dying in Kedarnath valley with no food, water or shelter. They are our priority," reported ‘Times of India’.