Unmanned Aerial Vehicle in Kedarnath to help rescue, relief operation: NDMA

NEW DELHI: An Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) will be deployed in flood-hit Kedarnath to help authorities assess the damage and look for stranded people braving difficult condition after the calamity hit parts of Uttarakhand about 20 days ago.

"An UAV with six National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) personnel will be deployed in Kedarnath. At present it is in Guptakashi due to bad weather. It (UAV) will give you an aerial view of the areas which are not easily accessible.

"It can be controlled and gives you live streaming of the entire scenario," Vice Chairman of National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) M Shashidhar Reddy told PTI.

The UAV 'Daksha' has been taken from a paramilitary force, he said.

"Earlier they had used 'Netra' UAV developed by some young IIT graduates and they have done about 80-90 sorties. This was 10 days back," he said.

The flood that hit parts of Uttarakhand on June 16 has claimed 560 lives and left about 3,500 people stranded.

"About 8,500 cattle are missing. Very often these farm animals give people some supplementary income. So an overall rehabilitation package has to be given (to them)," he said.

The state government will come up with some plans to give relief or recovery package which will be fixed.

"Earlier there was no compensation for cattle. But Uttarakhand government has decided to give relief package. They are also providing some subsidy for kerosene," Reddy said.