Friday 24 February 2012

CORPS COMMANDER AND MoS HOME VISIT AVALANCHE SITES

SRINAGAR: MoS Home, Jenab Nazir Aslam Wani left all other engagements and flew from Jammu to Srinagar to accompany Lt Gen Syed Ata Hasnain, GOC Chinar Corps, to the avalanche hit areas of Gurez and Sonamarg this morning.  The MoS Home personally conveyed the condolences of the Hon’ble CM of Jammu & Kashmir, Jenab Omar Abdullah, to the Corps Commander.  
 
Flying in an Army Aviation Helicopter, the MoS Home and the Corps Commander carried out a surveillance of all avalanche prone villages in the Gurez Valley before landing at Dawar, the scene of the devastating avalanche which hit the Army’s Brigade HQ at that location.  They witnessed firsthand the joint relief efforts of the Army and the Civil Administration to locate the three missing army personnel of the Army’s Workshop at Dawar.  
 
They were received and briefed by Maj Gen SK Chakravorty, GOC Kupwara Division and Brig Sanjeev Sharma, Commander Gurez.  Jenab Mohammed Ashraf SDM Gurez was also present at the site.  Even as the MoS and the Corps Commander were being briefed, two massive avalanches from the North of Kishanganga River thundered down the slopes and reached almost the river line.

The MoS Home and Corps Commander also flew to Sonamarg where they were received by Brig Kuldip Singh, Sub Area Commander, and briefed on the devastation caused by the avalanches which struck the Army’s camp from the south ridge.  The MoS was assured of all Army and Air Force assistance for rescue of civilians who were stuck in the vacated villages in the Sind Valley.  He received a firsthand briefing on the spectacular rescue of nine civilians stuck under the Shitkari Bridge, by the Air Force and the Army.

The MoS complimented the joint efforts of the Air Force and the Army and prayed that all Army Camps and villages would remain safe from the vagaries of the extreme winter being witnessed in J&K this year.  The Corps Commander thanked the State Government for its sensitivity and assured it that the cooperation and synergy being witnessed at all levels would continue unhindered.

No comments: