5 tourists die in U’khand, toll rises to 65; state pegs losses at Rs 7K cr

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, October 21

Five tourists have died in Kapkot in Uttarakhand’s Kumaon, officials said on Thursday as the toll in the state battered by the recent rains rose to 65.

The confirmation about the death of tourists stranded near Kapkot’s Sunderdhunga glacier in Bageshwar district came on a day when Union Home Minister Amit Shah conducted an aerial survey of the rain damage, pegged by the state government at Rs 7,000 crore.

Earlier, the official count of the dead was 60.

Shah was accompanied by Governor Lt Gen Gurmit Singh and Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami.

Speaking to mediapersons at the Jolly Grant airport in Dehradun after the survey of affected areas in Kumaon region, the Home Minister said alertness of the Central and state government agencies had helped contain the damage.

Relief and rescue operations continued in the worst-hit Kumaon region amid efforts to restore connectivity and evacuate people from vulnerable areas.

“A heavy rain alert was issued well in advance which helped take required precautionary steps,” Shah noted. He did not announce any immediate relief package for Uttarakhand due to the devastation caused by incessant rain, saying a detailed estimate of the losses needed to be prepared first.