Uttarakhand Governor Aziz Qureshi today refuted media reports suggesting he had attributed the magnitude of the recent calamity in the state to lack of preparedness on part of the state government.
"My statement was distorted by a section of the press. I am fully satisfied with the way the state government has tackled the crisis and evacuated thousands of pilgrims stranded in affected areas," Qureshi told reporters at the Raj Bhawan here.
"There may have been some lack of coordination initially but I give the CM full marks for the job done by him and his team," he said.
The governor said he especially salutes the armed forces for the commendable manner in which they have conducted the rescue operations in difficult hilly terrain.
Natural calamities can't be prevented howsoever prepared you may be to deal with them, he said.
However, he admitted that some of the confusion and chaos that followed the calamity like the number of people stranded, missing or dead could have been avoided if proper record of visitors at the entry point of the char dham yatra had been maintained.
"But we should learn lessons from this tragedy and evolve a mechanism which can make it easier for us to deal with a crisis like this in future," he said.
The governor advocated setting up a combined body on the lines of Vaishno Devi Shrine Board to run the affairs of the Char Dhams including Kedarnath, Badrinath, Gangotri and Yamunotri yatra.
Reports carried in a section of the press here today said that the Governor had blamed lack of preparedness on part of the state government for the huge crisis that befell the state recently.
