Rescue operations being held in Uttarakhand’s Tapovan power tunnel, where about 35 workers were trapped after a snow avalanche triggered flash floods on Sunday, are being led by the first Indian Police Service officers in the ITBP, as well as some other mountain-trained officers who have in the past seen disasters in the hilly terrains up close, PTI reported. Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Aparna Kumar, 45, an Indian Police Service (IPS) officer of the 2002 Uttar Pradesh cadre, is the senior-most field officer of the force.

Also read: Uttarakhand avalanche: 35 dead, 204 missing as rescue operations resume in Chamoli

Currently the sector-in-charge of the ITBP northern frontier
in Uttarakhand-capital Dehradun, she is the first woman IPS and ITBP
officer to have successfully conquered the South Pole in 2019.

The “operation of clearing the slush in the Tapovan
tunnel is continuing. It is a tough task but we are on it,” PTI quoted Kumar as
saying.

The officer hailing from Karnataka joined the ITBP in 2018.

“I did my advanced mountaineering course in July, 2014
and since then there has been no looking back,” Kumar said, adding that her
first mountaineering experience was with the Provincial Armed Constibulary
(PAC) a few years back.

According to a senior ITBP officer, she has been camping in the
Tapovan-Joshimath area since Sunday.

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

Kumar is being assisted by Benudhar Nayak, Commanding
Officer to the 1st ITBP battalion based in Joshimath, who, as per
the officer, has an experienced profile of having served long in the mountains.

Nayak was reportedly posted in Uttarakhand at the time of
the unprecedented flash floods of 2013, and helped in the current scenario by
quickly assigning a group of over 400 personnel from his battalion and nearby
units to launch the recue ops.