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There is no substance in Uttarakhand government's claims of putting life back on track in disaster-hit areas where major roads are still damaged and many villages cut off with their residents crying for succour, Former chief minister Bhuvan Chandra Khanduri said today.
'I have extensively toured the affected areas of both Garhwal and Kumaon regions and interacted with people. A vast network of roads is still damaged and a large number of villages still delinked and inaccessible with their inhabitants crying for succour,' Khanduri told reporters here on his return from a week-long tour of affected areas.
People rendered homeless by the calamity are living in miserable conditions in overcrowded camps at Dharchula in Pithoragarh district with very poor quality of food being served to them, he said.
The BRO which has been entrusted with the task of repairing highways is facing dearth of funds.
Its hands are tied up as it has no money to carry out road restoration work smoothly in the affected areas, he said.
The villages which are still cut off are facing foodgrain shortage.
In a situation like this, the priority of the government should be repairing the roads at the earliest by providing BRO with adequate funds, he said.
'All claims of the government about a massive effort under way to provide succour to people are devoid of truth. My impression after visiting places like Haldwani, Pithoragarh, Khatima, Chamapawat and Lohaghat areas is that precious little has been done to repair the roads and rehabilitate people who have been displaced,' Khanduri said.
People are living in small overcrowded camps put up at schools and panchayat bhawans despite over two months after the tragedy and still no one in the government is talking about relocating them.
Charging the state government with being insensitive to people who lost everything in the calamity, the BJP leader said it does not still seem to be in control of the situation.
