Uttarakhand avalanche: Families of missing workers protest at Rishiganga power project site

Protest
erupted in the Rishiganga hydel project site in Uttarakhand on Wednesday after
families of project workers, who are missing following the flash floods in the
Alaknanda River, created ruckus accusing the authorities of not carrying out
the rescue operations properly, reports PTI.

It all started when the relatives of around 40 missing workers engaged in a heated argument with the authorities of the project, alleging the lack of urgency in the rescue work.

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“It has been four days since the tragedy occurred but the entire focus is on restoring connectivity and not rescuing the missing people does not seem to be the priority,” said a man from Punjab, whose brother Jugal worked at the Rishiganga hydel project.

He also noted that his brother’s phone rings every time they attempt to call him.

Another aggrieved, Sanjay Pant, whose 24-year-old electrical engineer brother Abhishek was in the tunnel told AFP that “This entire rescue operation is a joke.”

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Adding that if we are living in the 18th century, Pant asked the authorities, “Where is our technology, where are our machines?”

The state authorities on the other hand assured that the rescue operation are being undertaken round the clock with all possible man and machinery but it would take significant time to remove the amount of debris that has been stuck in the site.

“As time passes, the chances of finding them are reducing. But miracles do happen,” Piyoosh Rautela, a senior state disaster relief official told AFP.

Rishiganga project manager, Kamal Chauhan, who is facing backlash from the families of aggrieved, in his defence said that the administration is not letting him help to locate the missing.

According to AFP, at least 170 people are still missing after an ice sheet hanging from the mountain slid down along with a significant mass of land in the river valley causing heavy floods that swept away the bridges and roads, hitting the hydroelectric plants.

Meanwhile, five more bodies were recovered on Tuesday taking the death toll to 32, officials said on Wednesday.

The authorities believe that more bodies would be recovered under the tonnes of rocks and other debris and the thick blanket of grey mud in the coming days.