Uttarakhand floods: Kin of missing protest at Rishiganga power project site

Raini (Uttarakhand), February 10

The families of workers missing from the Rishiganga hydel project site created a ruckus here on Wednesday accusing the authorities of not carrying out the rescue operations properly after the sudden flood in the Alaknanda river system wreaked havoc.

The kin of around 40 missing workers engaged in a heated argument with the authorities of the project for two hours, alleging lack of urgency in the rescue work.

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

“Jugal’s phone rings when his number is dialed,” he said.

Rishiganga project manager Kamal Chauhan, who had to face the wrath of the families, said his help was not being taken by the administration to locate the missing.

The death toll in the disaster was 32 as on Tuesday with six more bodies being recovered during the day, officials had said as multiple agencies raced against time to reach the workers trapped inside a tunnel at the power project site and 174 people remained missing.

The missing people include those working at NTPC’s 480-MW Tapovan-Vishnugad project and the 13.2-MW Rishiganga Hydel Project and villagers whose homes nearby were washed away.—PTI