Uttarakhand: Salute the martyrs, light a diya and have a dream

 Tarun Vijay
01 July 2013, 10:45 AM IST 

With prayers on our lips and gratitude in hearts, let's salute the martyrs of Uttarakhand who laid down their lives while saving the thousands. On 5th July a Homage and Hope meeting is to be held in Dehradun with Governor Aziz Qureshi presiding. It will be graced by our heroes of various arms of the gigantic rescue operation. Let us light a diya, a candle that day, in every home and every institution and every shop, at 6 pm in honour of the martyrs and to pay homage to the victims. This small gesture will go a long way to heal the deep scars of the most tragic disaster we have ever witnessed.

It was a catastrophe beyond our imagination.

Everyone did his bit and everyone who was there, helped, mobilized support, or just gave a word of solace to the grief stricken yatris needs a word of praise and shabash.

The army, IAF, ITBP, NDRF, police and the district authorities, they were there and tried to do their best with whatever was available. The ill equipped disaster response mechanism has been quite exposed and there is hardly anything to add to it.

The way relief operation moved, people saw their angels too.

With armed forces of all colours leading obviously.

They were like our gods, and just their presence instilled a confidence and a trust amongst yatris and local rescued people that they are away from the jaws of death. Lt Gen. Anil Chait, Air Vice Marshal SRK Nair, ITBP IG Harbhajan Singh, DIG I.S. Negi, NDRF DIG JKS Rawat, Sub Area Commandant Maj Gen A.K. Agarwal, Police IG RS Meena, DIG Sanjay Gunjyal, Gathwal Commissioner Suvardhan,Tehri DM Jha and SP Janamejay, Dehradun DM Purushottam, Rudraprauyag’s Ravindranath Raman and Dilip Javalkar ... all these and many many more.

They were doing their best and were not sitting idle and watching people die.

The RSS, like many other socially motivated organizations, moved fast, with hundreds of their workers reaching high altitude areas, and mobilizing support in the fastest way from all over India. They worked under the amazing leadership of Dr Nityanand, whom we all consider as our source of inspiration. At 88, and just discharged from a month long hospitalization, he stayed back in Dehradun to guide the relief operation. Shiv Prakash, Harish, Surendra, Laxmi Prasad Jayaswal, Neeraj, were there working 24 hours and then came the scholarly man of science, Dr Krishna Gopal, all India Joint Secretary of RSS. It was an unprecedented effort of a united Uttarakhand, expressing an Indian solidarity.

I remember how Narendra bhai used to tell us about his mentor Laxman Rao Inamdar popularly known as Vakil sahib. He was the RSS stalwart who shaped his ideas and vision. I had requested Narendra bhai, Uttarakhand is passing through the worst phase, and choppers with pilots having an expertise to fly at high altitude mountainous regions not easily available as all have been requisitioned by the state govt.

Narendra bhai was already working on an electrifying operation rescue. He thinks miles ahead and much before anyone of us can even imagine, plans are ready to be executed. His Uttarakhand visit’s news spread like wild fire. I was at Guptkashi, with BJP-RSS workers. We had brought relief material. Every day smaller trucks were being sent, as the road was not conducive to the bigger lorries.

We found heroes at every level, of every age.

The people in Guptkashi, Ukhimath were enveloped in grief. These two small village-townships provided everything that Kedarnath needed. Pandits, shopkeepers, guides, employees and members of the Temple Committee, sundry helpers etc. And most of them were missing. A pall of gloom had overshadowed the life. Shops were closed.  Bazaar was lifeless. Yet they helped the yatris in distress. The food was in dire shortage and cooking gas unavailable. Due to rains the dry wood for kitchen was too scarce. Yet the local people had the 24-hour free langar, an announcement arrangement for the missing yatris and a shelter.  People from Vidya Dham Ashram, Indore,  in a humble and silent manner, had daily langars and shelter for thousands of  yatris. Gayatri Pariwar’s Dr Pranav Pandya and his workers were wonderfully serving the people with humility and warmth. And so were many other organizations from Punjab, Haryana, UP worked tirelessly. They didn’t know the area, nor  were acclimatised, faced difficulties like no electricity, mosquitoes, no toilets, difficult accommodation and a harsh profiteering by ‘happy to help’ people of private mobile companies. They proved ‘happy to make people distressed in when they needed help.’ None worked except BSNL and in some parts Idea.

The local boys, still unsung, had rushed to the disaster area in the first two days and saved hundreds of lives.

People from Kerala, Karnataka, and Andhra to Assam, Bengal, J&K, Gujarat and Maharashtra were all there. Every year during Yatra an India is recreated here, the region becomes a replica of our national ethos. The National Disaster Response Force had a number of Muslims from Kashmir who saved yatris. And so were from every other place and religion and caste. If Congress workers were there to help so were BSP leaders doing their bit. I met them, thanked them all.

What next now? Still the dead are buried and the hopes alive.

Not getting into any blame game or acrimonious debate on what should have been done that was not done, and leaving this analysis, quite important and compulsory though, for a time when the operational activities are completed, let's work hard to build a better future to minimize the impact of such catastrophes.

I met Shri Pranab Mukherjee in this regard and presented him a 35 point agenda for the Rejuvenation of Uttarakhand and to ensure that such inexcusable lapses in disaster response are not repeated in future. Pranab Da is a very receptive and sensitive President we have had after Dr Rajendra Prasad. One can feel very comfortable in his presence and he never makes you feel, he is in a tearing hurry.

This Rejuvenation Agenda is prepared with the help of many stalwarts who had a wealth of experience in this field, like Lt. Gen. Manvendra Singh, the dynamic Commandant of the IMA. The President read each and every point, discussed every line with me and seemed to be quite appreciative of this. He assured to have it passed on to the appropriate authorities.

The brief points are here. You may add, suggest changes and amend. All are welcome
1. Shift focus of administration – make Gairsain as summer capital on the patterns of J&K. The hills will not get importance for development till the govt seat is also shifted there.

2. New roads in main valleys should be constructed above ridgelines.

3. Tunneling methods on the patterns of Banihal tunnel distances

4. Road construction experts panel and monitoring system be established with the help of credible private construction companies.

5. All weather Communications including data systems management be properly established.

6. Village defence and disaster teams be set up, especially in the border areas under Army supervision and control.

7. Take help of highly experienced retired officers settled in Uttarakhand for making Reconstruction Plan and hold seminars to involve social sector in planning for health, geology, wildlife, forests, economy, administrative reforms.

8. Adoption of villages be allowed by Army, NGOs, states.  I have announced adoption of one village and similarly IMA Dehradun is keen to adopt one village

9. NDRF Organisation be properly reorganized, empowered, given a helicopter and its units be established in vulnerable locations under command of the army.

10. Enhance capacity to response – rescue, equipment, training, data, research, communications, command control etc. in war like manner.

11. In border areas Ecology friendly (like territorial army) additional battalions be raised under Army.

12. Transport management and tagging – registration system be introduced in all Char Dham Yatras like China has done, so that every vehicle and the passengers traveling are properly tagged and administration knows the quantum of people and their position in these areas at any given time, correctly.

13. Development model for these vulnerable areas be decided and implemented accordingly so that hazardous and vision-blind development is stopped. Nature's protection and economic development must be balanced in a wholesome manner.

14. Immediate attention on building Infrastructure – accommodation, storage, heli-dromes, emergency helipads, fuel stocks, food stocks, toilets be focused on. We need helidromes and not just helipads for obvious reasons.

15. Establish a single unit State Command Authority. The lack of coordination, multiple authorities, no listening and response posts and a confused hierarchy contributed immensely in precipitating and increasing the impact of the catastrophe this time.

16. Bring back seriousness to civil military liaison conferences so that confidence is built in various arms of authorities.

17. Research team be sent by culture and tourism departments of the state in liaison with the ASI to interior parts of the state immediately for making an implementable report for protecting monuments in Uttarakhand.

18. A graceful and appropriately designed memorial be erected for Kedarnath victims and heroes of rescue operation at Devprayag or Haridwar.

19. Raising of funds for reconstruction – adopt a pro-people approach, involve an apolitical agency, and people of repute.

20. Arrangements for yatris, guidelines and precautions be properly publicized and registration of yatris be made compulsory on the pattern of Kailash Mansarovar Yatra. This must begin a year in advance.

21. Winter and monsoon deployment of resources and their storage.

22. Safety of banks and vaults be relooked into.

23. Char Dham yatra authority be reorganized like Vaishno Devi Yatra arrangement. Free these committees  of politically motivated who are  often disinterested in reforms and serving the faithful. They have already messed up Badrinath and Kedarnath darshan systems.  The dormant,ritualistic, casteist approach must be done away with and a fresh new age temple management with focus on faith rather money, be introduced keeping the poor and common yatri in the centre and avoiding giving undue importance to moneybag, rich helicopter riding yatris.

24. Laybyes, convoy parking grounds, be planned on the entire route of Yatra.

25. Satellite tracking of weather be made a dedicated mechanism and an accountable smart division be created in the CM’s office giving highest importance to the met predictions and their advisories.

26. Monitoring of water flow in rivers – empirical data collection be a regular, 7 days 24 hr exercise.

27. Electrical Crematoriums be established at all major pilgrim places.

28. Recovery posts and emergency relief stations be positioned at border areas and vulnerable points.

29. Adventure camps and the parking slots for them  be regularized, tagged and monitered.

30. Maps be provided to all vehicle drivers and a special training of taxi drivers in this region be introduced – first aid box be made compulsory. Radio taxis should be introduced in these areas

31. Mules waste disposal, ban on plastics be enforced.

32.  For porters from other regions and social groups a strict policy be  discussed and a regularization system be introduced.

33. Air control and weather monitoring stations be established in higher regions.  Shockingly today air control system beyond Jollygrant Airport (Dehradun) is absent.

34. Separate relief mechanism for residents of Uttarakhand and  non-residents be created

35. One agency/command system should be operational 24 hrs/7 days for disaster management with a single window information/response system and a single website portal be created. Today a multiple and confusing information system is too harassing - state website, information dept’s website, police website, PIB and Doordarshan websites… The officers think people in need are as technology savvy as them, get electricity and broadband connectivity 24 hrs and have a whale of a time. Like they get in Cabinet Secretariat and Shastri Bhawan.

Source: http://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/indus-calling/entry/uttarakhand-salute-the-martyrs-light-a-diya-and-have-a-dream