Uttarakhand Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat said saving lives and extending all help to the families of the deceased is the state government s priority. Union ministers Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank and R K Singh as well as Pauri MP Tirath Singh Rawat, Uttarakhand minister Dhan Singh Rawat also met the affected families in disaster-hit Tapovan and Raini and assured them of all support.
Two power projects NTPC s 480 MW Tapovan-Vishnugad project and the 13.2 MW Rishi Ganga Hydel Project were extensively damaged with scores of labourers caught in tunnels as the waters came rushing in.
Rescue efforts in the affected areas near Joshimath, about 295 km from here, gained momentum with teams of the Army, Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) coordinating to rescue 30-35 people feared trapped in a tunnel at the Tapovan-Vishnugad project.
Three more bodies of the more than 140 missing after the glacier burst in Uttarakhand’s Chamoli district have been recovered, taking the death toll to 10, officials said on Monday, as massive efforts were underway to rescue at least 30 workers trapped in a tunnel at a power project site.
The State Emergency Operation Centre said 27 people were rescued alive 12 from the smaller of the two tunnels at the Tapovan-Vishnugad project site and 15 from the Rishi Ganga site