BSF pledges Rs16 crore for Uttarakhand victims

New Delhi, June 25: The Border Security Force (BSF) will donate Rs.16 crore for disaster relief in flood-ravaged Uttarakhand.

"We are donating one day's salary of all personnel," a BSF statement said.

The BSF said it will adopt a few of the devastated villages with a view to providing rehabilitation and reconstruction on a longer term.

"An amount of Rs.2 lakh each will also be given to the families of the Uttarakhand Police and Indo-Tibetan Border Police personnel who are deceased and missing in the rescue operation," said the statement.

Till now, three ITBP personnel have reportedly been washed away during rescue operations and one from the BSF died during the rescue operations. The heroic rescue operation by the BSF and the ITBP officials is on and they have pledged to rescue every survivor even if the weather is bad. Around 4,000 pilgrims are still stranded in the Badrinath area, awaiting help.

Rescue operations, at present, have been stopped because of fresh downpours. The defence forces assure that the operations would resume as soon as possible. Meanwhile, unmanned drones have been sent to various areas to trace the stranded and speed-up the rescue operations.

IANS