Twelve people, including three of a family, were killed and six injured in heavy overnight rains that triggered flooding and house collapse as several rivers swelled in Uttarakhand, officials said on Thursday.
Helicopter rescue operations to evacuate around 9000 stranded people picked up pace on Tuesday after rains and fog in the morning delayed the mission in calamity-hit Uttarakhand where the death toll mounted to 822 with 127 more bodies recovered from Kedarnath.
Bad weather returned to Uttarakhand on Monday with fresh spell of rains and landslips in the higher reaches of Chamoli and Rudraprayag districts grounding rescue operations by choppers in the state where 10,000 survivors are waiting to be evacuated.
The IT and IT-enabled services companies will be provided space in the proposed SEZ. The proposal awaits final approval from the Board of Approval. SIDCUL has been appointed the nodal agency for the proposed IT SEZ which would invite Expression of Interests from top reputed companies. The sources said top IT multinational companies like Infosys could be invited for the development of the IT SEZ, which is being set up over 14.2 hectares.
In the last five years, 37 bridges have collapsed in Uttarakhand. Another 27 bridges are on the brink of collapse. 'Our politicians don't view these bridge collapses as a setback.' 'Rather they see them as an opportunity to make more money.'
India's water future remains very bleak. The monsoon season, which once extended to 4 months, is now down to less than 30 days of heavy rain.
An overcast sky and low visibility at places on Wednesday did not come in the way of air rescue operations in rain-hit Uttarakhand, even though a thin veil of early morning fog briefly delayed flight of choppers from Sahasradhara helipad and Jollygrant airport.