Jammu: The Lieutenant Governor, Manoj Sinha on Monday deployed 10 senior IAS and IPS officers to supervise relief and rescue operations in the cloudburst-hit Chisoti village of Kishtwar district.
“In order to supervise relief and rescue operations in response to the recent tragic cloudburst, the officers, as per the roster, are hereby deputed to Chisoti in district Kishtwar,” read an order issued by Commissioner-Secretary to the Government M Raju.
The officers will be deployed in the hamlet for the next eight days, with one IAS and one IPS officer overseeing operations for two days each.
Principal Secretary Home, Chandraker Bharti, and Inspector General of Police (Operations & Services) Uttam Chand will supervise operations on August 19 and 20, followed by Principal Secretary Anil Kumar Singh and IGP Sujit Kumar on August 21 and 22.
Financial Commissioner and Additional Chief Secretary Shaleen Kabra and IGP Suleman Chaudhary will be deployed on August 23 and 24, followed by Secretary Shahid Iqbal Choudhary and IGP Vivek Gupta on August 25 and 26.
Rescue operation continued amid rain on Monday, the fifth day since the tragedy, to trace those buried under debris in the remote village.
The annual Machail Mata yatra, which began on July 25 and was scheduled to conclude on September 5, remained suspended for the fifth consecutive day.
The 8.5-km trek to the 9,500-foot-high shrine starts from Chishoti, about 90 km from Kishtwar town.
CISF ADG visits cloudburst-hit village in Kishtwar, lauds personnel for saving lives
Additional Director General of CISF Sudhir Kumar on Monday visited the cloudburst-hit village of Chisoti in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kishtwar district to oversee the ongoing rescue operation and lauded his personnel for saving lives.
He said three of the force personnel lost their lives and another is still missing in the natural calamity which struck the village on August 14. So far, the bodies of 61 people, including the three CISF personnel, have been recovered, while over 100 were rescued in an injured condition. More than 50 people are still reported missing.
“We had a deployment of 25 personnel in the village (to provide security to pilgrims visiting Machail Mata shrine) when the tragedy struck, also impacting one of our barracks. I was told by the jawans that the cloudburst only lasted 18 seconds but brought down the hill, burying everything which came in the way,” the ADG of the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) told reporters here.
In addition to the three personnel who lost their lives, another identified as Mura is still missing, he said.
“When some of our people were able to save themselves from the impact, they came running to and rescued many women and children from the rubble and sent them to hospital in private vehicles. They were the first respondents to the tragedy,” he said
The officer said one-and-a-half company strength, comprising 150 personnel, were also rushed from Kishtwar and Dul Hasti power project locations to assist other agencies and civil administration in the rescue efforts.
Asked about the weapons of the jawans, he said by and large all the weapons are intact. “It is difficult to verify the stock but once the stock verification is done the reality will emerge and any shortcoming will be addressed.”
“CISF is always prepared to face any type of challenge. Our men met the challenge in a professional manner and their dedication and determination shows how well trained they are,” the ADG said.
Talking about the ongoing rescue operation, he said, “I have been told that there is a plan for blasting to go deep, as far as possible. There are about 20-22 JCBs working on the ground on war footing.”(PTI)
