No lessons learnt from 2013 Kedarnath tragedy: Cong on cloudburst in U’khand

NEW DELHI:Congress leader and former Cabinet Minister Harak Singh Rawat visited the disaster-hit areas in Uttarakhand’s Rudraprayag and criticised the ruling BJP in the state for not carrying out ‘proper’ rescue operations.

Several roads were washed away and nearly 200 pilgrims were left stranded in Rudraprayag on July 31 after a cloudburst occurred at Bhim Bali on the Kedarnath walking path.

Addressing a press conference, Rawat also slammed the government for “mismanagement” in the rescue operations of Kedarnath pilgrims.

Harak Singh Rawat said, "Government's arrangements are poor. The way rescue operations have been going on for the last three to four days after the disaster, there is a huge lack of management.”

He said, "The road could have been opened in just four hours. The pool of the Kund could have been opened in 2 hours but no one is thinking about it. I am not saying this just because I am in the opposition. The situation should have improved in the last 10 years but it has become worse. I thought that we would have learned a lesson from the 2013 disaster but nothing was learned. Today I am very disappointed. Where we were in 2013, today we are even further behind in terms of dealing with disasters."

On the ongoing controversy regarding gold in Kedarnath Dham, Rawat said that irregularities have been made, whether by the donor or by the Badri Kedar Temple Committee.

Because this work was done under the supervision of the temple committee, he said that Baba Kedar would not forgive whoever committed any irregularities. Those who do this in Baba Kedar's Dham will be punished.

Rawat also talked about India's relationship with China. Why did we lack fights at high altitudes? Answering it, he said, "Our army did not have enough training for this earlier."