We will stay till last person is evacuated: Army Chief

Indian Army Chief Gen Bikram Singh Friday said the rescue operation in Uttarakhand was carried out successfully under tiring circumstances.

Gauchar: Sending a word of assurance, Army Chief Gen Bikram Singh Friday said the armed forces will continue their operations till all the people are rescued from various locations in flood-hit Uttarakhand. Gen Singh, who is on a day-long visit to affected areas, said he had asked his commanders to launch relief operations in "very, very difficult conditions" in a proactive manner, without waiting for any requisition from authorities.

"We are getting information that there may still be some survivors in certain areas. Like I am told, yesterday we had an input that in north of Badrinath there were some people, 40 of them. We had launched sorties yesterday but couldn`t detect them. "We will be doing it again, if the weather permits. But endeavour is to locate all our citizens, wherever they are, and get them out," he told reporters here. Gen Singh said he was visiting the area to laud the efforts of over 8,000 personnel of the Army, along with the troops of the ITBP, NDRF and IAF. "This was also an opportunity to offer my condolences to people who lost their lives in the chopper crash. My heart goes out to them," he said. Many of the troops deployed in relief operations are from Garhwal Rifles unit, the Army Chief said, adding that Garhwal Scouts are from Uttarakhand and their families were also impacted by the flash floods. "They are son of soils and large a number of them are affected too. I must tell you these boys have refused to take leave to attend to their kith and kin and rather render their duties. We all had a phenomenal synergy," Singh said. PTI