Jammu and Kashmir floods: Centre despatches more boats, NDRF teams for rescue operations
New Delhi: Seventy boats and five teams of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) have been sent to Jammu and Kashmir for the rescue and relief of flood-affected people.
The decision was taken by Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Sunday after reviewing the flood situation in the state. Singh ordered that the boats be despatched today itself for use in rescue operations, a Home Ministry official said.
Control rooms are being set up at Srinagar, Jammu and New Delhi to monitor and coordinate the rescue and relief operations.
The telephone numbers of the control rooms are: New Delhi Jammu and Kashmir House (011)-24611210 and 24611108; Srinagar 0194-2452138; and Jammu 0191-2560401.
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Anybody seeking assistance pertaining to the flood crisis in J-K may also approach Home Ministry's control room in New Delhi, the telephone numbers for which are: (011) 23093054, 23092763, 23093564, 23092923, 23092885, 23093566, 23093563.
The Home Minister also instructed that five teams of NDRF be sent immediately to the flood-affected areas of the state. Singh has also appealed to all social organisations and NGOs to mobilise their resources to bolster the rescue efforts.
IAF airlifts 180 jawans from flood-hit border posts
The Indian Air Force on Sunday airlifted 180 jawans who were posted at various border area posts along flood-affected India-Pakistan border in Jammu sector.
A total of over 180 BSF and Army jawans were evacuated from various border-area posts in Jammu sector today, air officer commanding (AoC), Jammu IAF station, Air Commodore PE Patange told reporters here.
Of these, over 80 BSF jawans and over 100 Army jawans have been airlifted from flood-trapped areas, he said.
Most of the border belts have been flooded causing threat to posts and jawans their lives.
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Floods have badly hit security infrastructure along India-Pakistan border including border outposts (BoPs) and fencing as choppers of Indian Air Force (IAF) and Army Aviation Corps on Saturday airlifted 108 BSF and Army men from forward areas.
IAF's Condors in Jammu also reached out to trapped people in flash-floods in Jammu and evacuated 627 people by braving adverse weather conditions and poor visibility.
Floods have inundated most the stretches of border fencing and trapped BSF jawans in BoPs and also Army jawans in forward posts along international border in Jammu and Samba sectors.
"The rescue and relief operation has been intensified in view of the betterment of the weather. It will continue till all people trapped in floods are rescued," the AoC said.
He said that our priority is to save the lives first besides carrying out airdropping of ration, medicines to the trapped people.
