Uttarakhand floods: Over 3675 people evacuated

New Delhi: Braving inclement weather which disrupted air operations in rain-ravaged Uttarakhand, personnel from Army, ITBP and NDRF today continued to evacuate stranded persons from the higher reaches of the state.

Over 3,675 people were evacuated by joint efforts of Air Force, Army, ITBP and NDRF today even as the Border Roads Organisation continued its operations to clear the passages between Tilwara and Rudra Prayag. The access between Gupt Kashi to Tehri was also cleared, a statement of the Group of Ministers on Media said. The statement did not mention the total number of people pulled out so far, nor the number of people still stranded. BSNL has restored all its towers except four which are in Kedarnath, Dharchula, Augustya Muni and Narayan Bagar. Out of 72 telephone exchanges that were down, 44 have been restored. While 75 satellite phones are in use in the state, another 25 are being imported from Hong Kong for use by the agencies involved in rescue work. PTI