Uttarakhand Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna on Friday assured that road connectivity in the flood-affected areas of the hill state would be restored at the earliest.
Bahuguna said several pilgrims and locals have been rescued, and added that the restoration work is going on in full swing.
"Connectivity of a lot of roads had been improved and restored. The Border Roads Organisation is doing a good job and had reconstructed a lot of roads. If so many roads would not have opened then how 1,10,000 pilgrims were rescued?" asked Bahuguna.
"As the weather is clearing, the work is in progress and gearing up. Cremation is also taking place. The weather and rains are creating hurdles, but the authorities are doing whatever is humanly possible," he added.
Meanwhile, NDMA Vice-Chairman Shashidhar Reddy said that there was a need to take preventive measures so that the extent of damage can be minimized.
"It's not just about response, whenever there is a disaster, it can always happen, people will always be there to respond. Everybody will come together during the response phase, but the preparedness, prevention and mitigation aspects are extremely important. So, there is a need for the establishment of a permanent nature," he said.
The Uttarakhand administration is working on war footing to restore public amenities damaged by flash floods and rains in different parts of the state on June 16.
Four districts of Pithoragarh, Uttarkashi, Chamoli and Rudraprayag have been badly devastated and the state missionary is currently concentrating in these districts.
The Central Government earlier on Wednesday set up a committee of experts to find out the possible reasons behind the deluge and propose various measures, including early warning system at higher altitudes.
The formation of the committee by Union Water Resources Minister Harish Rawat comes against the backdrop of Public Accounts Committee criticizing his Ministry for failing to formulate an 'actionable plan' for flood management as per the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) guidelines.
