Narendra Modi lands in Uttarakhand, flies out with 15,000 Gujaratis

[metro]

 

[T90TankGuy]

The numbers are a suspect . it would take a lot more flights cars and buses to evacuate the 15k claimed.

 

[kurup]

The numbers are a suspect . it would take a lot more flights cars and buses to evacuate the 15k claimed.

Even if he had only rescued 1500 people , that is still a good news.

 

[T90TankGuy]

Even if he had only rescued 1500 people , that is still a good news.

Even if he rescued 15 would have been good. i have a problem with him getting millage out of it. thousands of army men are involved in the rescue op. none bother with this cheap publicity.

 

[sankranti]

Even if he rescued 15 would have been good. i have a problem with him getting millage out of it. thousands of army men are involved in the rescue op. none bother with this cheap publicity.

....Then why don't you tell the congress to buy more Media houses ?

.............You think the newspapers & News Channels have discovered that talking about Modi sells papers and gets them higher TRP ratings ?

 

[Kloitra]

Even if he rescued 15 would have been good. i have a problem with him getting millage out of it. thousands of army men are involved in the rescue op. none bother with this cheap publicity.

There is no comparison between him and the army. Comparison is between him and other leaders. Nobody stopped other CMs from providing a return journey for their citizens. We dont see other leaders coming ahead with such plans.

From what I have read, the state didn't even tried to coordinate with him, while he was trying to help.

 

[sankranti]

Few Facts about Narendra Modi led rescue efforts in Uttarakhand

When on Saturday evening, TV channels brought the news that Narendra Modi's visit to Uttarakhand to oversee relief operations had kicked off a major political storm, I decided to go and check for myself whether this was indeed a cheap publicity gimmick as alleged by the Congress or a serious response to a tragedy.

Here's my take, one that I know will find many disagreeing: those who call Modi a Rambo or a publicity-hungry politician have no clue what they are dealing with. Consider the following. Gujarat today has a fighting-fit bureaucracy because it was enabled to develop expertise, team spirit and deliver results under the most adverse circumstances.

The Gujarat Disaster Management Authority ( GDMA) has become a thoroughly professional institution capable of responding to natural or man-made disasters. It has a 24x7 monitoring system and well-publicised helpline numbers well known to Gujaratis - both in the country and abroad. Modi has succeeded in conveying to the citizens of Gujarat that the government is always there to serve them. That is why the first response of Gujaratis anywhere in the world is to contact the chief minister's office if they are caught in a calamity.

Also, consider this. Modi arrived in Delhi late 17th night for a meeting with the Planning Commission on 18th when news of cloudburst and landslides was telecast on TV. He held an emergency meeting to take stock of the situation since he knew that thousands of Gujaratis are likely to be among the Chardham pilgrims . Right away, a camp office was opened at Gujarat Bhavan and the Resident Commissioner's team in Delhi was made responsible for coordinating with Gujarati pilgrims.

Early-Mover Advantage

On the 18th morning, Modi called Dr Pranav Pandya of the All World Gayatri Parivar to provide space and infrastructure in his Shanti Kunj campus for the relief centre proposed to be set up by the Gujarat government . He chose this campus because of his close knowledge of, and rapport with, this Gandhian institution that can house and feed thousands of people at a short notice.

It has a 2,000-strong community of swayamsevaks on the campus, plus 3,000-odd students of the Dev Sanskriti University. The campus also has a well-run hospital.

On the 18th evening itself, a set of computers with internet connections , telephone lines, television sets and all other paraphernalia required for Gujarat government's relief operation were set up. Therefore, when a team of Gujarat government IAS, IPS and IFS officers came, they could get going within minutes of reaching Shanti Kunj.

Team Gujarat had two officers from Uttarakhand - Assistant Director General of Police Bisht and Forest Service officer SC Pant - who had close knowledge of the terrain to guide both the stranded pilgrims as well as rescue teams on the safest possible routes to take. ADG Bisht went straight to Gupta Kashi from where the rescue operations are being launched.

A team of seven doctors trained in handling such emergencies, led by an orthopaedic surgeon, not only put in place an efficient first-aid service but are also attending to those severely injured.

I saw them go around to other relief camps and railway stations to attend to non-Gujaratis as well. The mandate of Team Gujarat in Uttarakhand is: take good care of rescued pilgrims as they arrive but send them home at the earliest possible in the most comfortable manner . Don't worry about expenditure or numbers.

Smooth Operators

As always, officers on the ground have been empowered to take onthe-spot decisions, to decide how many buses or taxis they need, how many pilgrims need to be sent by air and what kind of aircraft to order. I saw senior IAS officers working 24x7 alongside very junior staff in one single room as a close-knit team.
When Modi landed in Dehradun, Team Gujarat was already in control . Far from attacking the state government , he offered all possible help.

Upset Congress

In addition, he synergised resources , energised BJP workers to get going, not just for immediate relief but also long-term reconstruction work. All his officers were provided phone numbers of BJP functionaries of all 190 blocks in Uttarakhand and vice versa. As usual, he worked to guide and streamline the operations . There was genuine spirit of cooperation and teamwork.

The Congress party is understandably upset because its chief minister has proved a disaster, its party machinery is in disarray, Congress Sewa Dal workers are nowhere in sight, Rahul Gandhi's Youth Brigade is clueless even in routine situations , leave alone know how to face a crisis like the Uttarakhand deluge.

That is the reality of the Uttarakhand relief operation led by Narendra Modi.

 

[sankranti]

'Modi's presence in Uttarakhand made the difference

The news report that Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi helped in the evacuation of 15,000 Gujaratis from Uttarakhand in two days has come under fire from various quarters. Even if one disputes the figures, Modi's detractors can learn how the entire operation was handled meticulously. Sheela Bhatt reports.

A controversy has broken out after a newspaper report that gave huge credit to Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi for leading the team that managed evacuation of 15,000 people, during his two-night stay in a hill state of Uttarakhand.

A Non-Resident Indian has even petitioned the Press Council of India for “serious violation of media ethics” for reporting that hugely helped Modi to reinforce his image of being a good administrator.

On Monday, the Gujarat government, when contacted by rediff.com, refused to confirm or deny the exact figures of Gujarati pilgrims helped by the Modi government. However, in an off the record briefing, the officer who was a part of the supervisory team gave factual position of what Modi and the government officers did.

"What all of you are not understanding is that after the Kutch earthquake, the Gujarat government has acquired the capability and more importantly, sensitivity to deal with any kind of disasters. Why should we not share our knowledge with the devastated state? That is real federalism according to Modi,” he said.

He added, “Modi’s critics don’t appreciate that everyone woke up only two days after, but we got the advantage because we anticipated the calamity as soon as the news of cloud burst was reported. Also, I can say with authority that the Gujarat government has done everything with the help of the Uttarakhand government and through the state machinery of Uttarakhand. We refuse to criticise the state government."

He said the actual figures of evacuation of pilgrims by the Gujarat government under the leadership of Modi will never be known because the chartered Boeing planes made five trips to Gujarat from Dehradun, there were hundreds of other cars, buses and trucks engaged by the government.

It’s impossible to count the exact number of pilgrims because, “We had firmly decided that at no point of time pilgrims should crowd the base camp in Haridwar, Dehradun or New Delhi. In case of an emergency, a large congregation can create other issues. Our aim was to rescue the pilgrims, give them food and some counseling and arrange for their transport and move them out of the affected zone.”

Of course, all those helped by the Gujarat government were not Gujaratis, he says.

For example, a group of 10 holy men from the Sivagiri Mutt in Kerala were also trapped. They contacted Modi and they were also located in the mountains and rescued. Modi had visited the mutt last April. The senior officer narrated the sequence of events after the news of cloud burst was reported in the Kedar valley.

“Modi was camping at the Gujarat Bhavan in New Delhi, on the night of June 17. The next day, he was to attend the annual plan meeting. We had an emergency meeting at night to take stock of the situation. Gujaratis have deep faith in the ‘Char Dham yatra’ so we knew that there will be easily more than 20,000 Gujaratis in Uttarakhand. Only common sense was needed to understand the issue,” he said.

Most Hindu Gujarati families dream of visiting Kedarnth-Badrinath and Gangotri-Yamuontri once in a lifetime. It’s a part of the Hindu family tradition. There are hundreds of Gujarat-based tour operators who specialise only in the ‘Char Dham’ yatra. Sometimes, rich families book an entire train to take relatives on the yatra.

On June 17, the camp office was opened at the Gujarat Bhavan. Then, one more camp office was opened right inside the control room of Uttarakhand government. On the same day, Modi asked his officers to enquire with Uttarakhand government the status of the Gujarati pilgrims.

The Uttarakhand government said that the Kedranath and Gangotri routes were facing deluge, floods and landslides. On the morning of June 18, three officers of the Delhi-based resident commissioner's office were asked to co-ordinate and help the Gujarati pilgrims.

Soon, these three officers found out that more than 40 people were stuck in the Kedarnath temple. In spite of information of the location of Gujarati pilgrims it was difficult to co-ordinate at Dehradun.

In no time, mobile numbers of Uttarakhand’s collectors, deputy collectors and disaster management officers were found out and circulated. As soon as information from Gujarat arrived about the missing pilgrims, the government officers knew whom to contact in Uttarakhand.

A system was set up for passing the information to the right person in the field. Also, on June 19, an advertisement in Gujarati papers was given about the available help of the government with all relevant telephone numbers.

On the same day, Modi wrote a detailed letter to Mallikarjun Kharge, the railway minister, requesting him to arrange for special trains. Modi requested that the railways should not charge the fare and serve free food on trains because people had lost everything.

Senior officers of the Gujarat government started writing letters to the Uttarakhand government from June 18 onwards. In one of the letters written on June 18, they gave details of the 94 pilgrims lost somewhere in mountains of the Kedar Valley. But, soon officers understood that by writing letters, things won’t move.

So, more than 25 officers from Gujarat were sent along with doctors to Dehradun on June 19. Modi gave a cheque of Rs 2 crore to Uttarakhand when not many people had an actual idea of the disaster, said the officer.

The officer said, “We received first request from Gujarat’s agriculture minister to help 27 pilgrims of the ‘Jaishree Ambe Ma Pariwar’. We forwarded it to Dehradun.”

Dhirubhai Patel was the first Gujarati pilgrim whose death was officially reported from Uttarakhand. The officer handled his body and helped his relatives with the cremation.

“Until June 20, we were coordinating individual cases, but when Modi went to Uttarakhand, the Bharatiya Janata Party and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh cadres got galvanised. For the saffron cadre, Modi is next to God. His presence made the difference,” said the officer.

“In his presence they started the rescue work with vigour and helped in locating victims. They knew the local terrain so they could guide victims to take the shortest route to reach safe places,” he added.

The figure of evacuation of 15,000 pilgrims in two days can be surely doubted, but Gujarat state team’s drive and talent to handle the disaster cannot be.

 

[sankranti]

What do you call a man how goes out of his way to help others ? ......save lives and galvanize people by his mere presence ?

Its been so long since India has seen a true leader ........they have forgotten what they are supposed to look like.

If he looks like 'Ram bhau' .......... can we expect Ram Rajya ?

 

[Kaniska]

So he just saved the Gujaratis while he wants to be PM for all of India?

Its easy to just take people out, its harder to save them where they are.

Never mind...India will never ever get a people like Modi as a PM as Indian people do not deserve him....It is a hard fact...

 

[sankranti]

Never mind...India will never ever get a people like Modi as a PM as Indian people do not deserve him....It is a hard fact...

I agree that the people of India do not deserve NaMo ....but I Deserve Modi as my PM. I refuse to let the #$@##@ of fellow Indians drag me down with them.

Take a look at this piece of fact .....

a group of 10 holy men from the Sivagiri Mutt in Kerala were also trapped. They contacted Modi and they were also located in the mountains and rescued. Modi had visited the mutt last April.

Isnt it Ironic that the Malayalee Holy Men should contact a Gujarat Chief Minister Shri. Modi to save them when they and the 'secular' Hindus of Kerala has voted a 'secular' christian chief minister to run kerala ?

As usual no Kerala news channel will run this story ......you see ..... its not 'secular' enough for the Muslim and Christian lobby.....and the rest of the Hindus there are just too dumb to know better.

 

[Awesome]

I agree that the people of India do not deserve NaMo ....but I Deserve Modi as my PM. I refuse to let the #$@##@ of fellow Indians drag me down with them.

In democracies what you alone deserve does not mean anything its all about the "we". What we deserve matters. I'm sure most Indians do not feel that they deserve an azaab-e-illahi on them!

 

[Guynextdoor2]

Man, sometimes when I see his dynamism, I think what a tragedy. If only this %$#^& hadn't rioted, we could have elected him PM and be done with it!

 

[kurup]

Even if he rescued 15 would have been good. i have a problem with him getting millage out of it. thousands of army men are involved in the rescue op. none bother with this cheap publicity.

They are politicians ... They are always behind publicity .

Even the relief goods were stopped for 3 days so that Rahul Gandhi can come home after his holidays and conduct a flag off photo operation.

But the good thing about Modi is even for publicity he delivers something unlike the congress.

 

[scorpionx]

When other state governments and the Center has failed,this is definitely a commendable job as well as alarming when a wanna be national leader segregates his own state from others when all are in distress.