The Nehru Institute of Mountaineering (NIM) on Thursday said that a total of nine bodies which were trapped in the Uttarkashi avalanche have been recovered and retrieved now, while 29 other trainees continue to remain stranded.

According to the NIM, the nine bodies retrieved today include four dead bodies that were already brought down on Tuesday (October 4) and Wednesday (October 5).

The update on recovered bodies came hours after a team of experts from Gulmarg in Jammu and Kashmir, High Altitude Warfare School (HAWS), joined the operation with the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), State Disaster Response Force (SDRF), Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), and NIM to rescue mountaineers that were stranded on Draupadi’s Danda-II mountain peak in Uttarakhand’s Uttarkashi after the avalanche hit them on Tuesday.
However, more teams have been sent to the advance base camp from ITBP Matli in Uttarkashi.

An advance helicopter landing ground was also prepared at 16,000 ft and a trial landing was successfully conducted in the morning.
According to ITBP PRO Vivek Pandey, the advanced helipad has been made at high altitudes and helicopters are out for rescue operations.

“The dead bodies are present at the base and some of them are expected to be brought down today itself,” the ITBP PRO said adding that the measures are being hampered due to bad weather conditions but efforts to find the missing mountaineers are still underway.

On Wednesday, the survivors of the avalanche in Uttarkashi narrated their horrific experiences.

Deep Thakur, a trainee from Gujarat, who survived the accident while undergoing treatment at the district hospital, said that the avalanche came all of a sudden while he was climbing to Draupadi’s Danda Peak for a summit at around 9.45 am, which he along with his companions fell into the crevasses about 60 feet deep, where he struggled between death and life for about 3 hours.

Another survivor, Akash Lalvani, a trainee from Mumbai, told that he was only about 100 meters below the summit of Draupadi’s Danda and the only plan was to summit the peak and get down after being photographed there, because the weather was also clear. But the sudden avalanche has left them with an unforgettable sorrow.

On Tuesday, about 41 trainees and instructors of the Nehru Institute of Mountaineering were in the grip of Draupadi’s avalanche in Danda of Dokrani glacier at an altitude of more than 5,000 meters.

In view of the safety of the trekking and mountaineering teams in Uttarkashi, district magistrate Abhishek Ruhela on Thursday banned trekking activities here for the next three days.

Ruhela has banned these activities in Uttarkashi from October 6 (today) to October 8 (Saturday) ahead of the India Meteorological Department’s alert for intense rainfall in the state over the upcoming days.

Bharatiya Janata Party leader Shehzad Poonawalla on Thursday took a jibe at the Congress after its leader Udit Raj allegedly made derogatory remarks on President Droupadi Murmu.

Udit Raj had accused President Murmu of allegedly doing ‘chamchagiri’ while making controversial remarks about her on Wednesday.

“No country should get a President like Droupadi Murmu ji. Chamchagiri also has its limits. She says 70 per cent of the people eat Gujarat’s salt. She will get to know once she starts living by consuming salt only,” Udit Raj said in his tweet in Hindi.

Reacting to this, Poonawalla termed it ‘another steep low remark of congress’ by stating that he has used an unacceptable language for the first woman Adivasi President and asked if the party (Congress) endorses such an “insult of Adivasi samaj”.

“After Ajoy Kumar called President Draupadi Murmu as evil & then Adhir Ranjan Chaudhary used the term “Rashtrapatni” now Congress stoops to a new low! Udit Raj uses unacceptable language for the 1st woman Adivasi President! Does the Congress endorse this insult of Adviasi samaj,” Poonawalla tweeted.

Udit Raj’s remarks came days after President Murmu noted in a civic reception hosted by the Government of Gujarat in her honour in Gandhinagar on Monday that the state produces 76 per cent of the country’s salt and on a lighter note said that “the salt produced in Gujarat is consumed by all Indians” (yah kaha jaa sakta hai ki sabhi deshwasi Gujarat kaa namak khate hain).

Congress leader Ajoy Kumar on July 13 alleged that Droupadi Murmu represented a “very evil philosophy of India” and said that she should not be made a “symbol of Adivasi.”

However, his remarks on the President of India (then-nominee for the country’s topmost position) drew a sharp reaction from the BJP, as a result of which, hours later Ajoy Kumar clarified that he has an issue with NDA’s views and that is what he commented on.

He also said that Murmu is a good woman.

In the same month, Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury sparked a controversy by calling the president as “Rashtrapatni” which invited severe criticism and regular adjournments in the Lok Sabha sessions.

BJP MPs including Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Women and Child Development Minister Smriti Irani sought an “apology” from the Congress leader and the party for his alleged “sexist’ remarks on the President.
After facing a huge backlash and criticism, however, Chowdhury tendered an apology to President Murmu.

Pandavapura (KTK), Oct 6: Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Thursday joined the Bharat Jodo Yatra here, participating in a public event of the party after a long gap.
Amid cheers and slogan-shouting by party workers, Sonia Gandhi walked besides her son Rahul Gandhi and other leaders for a few kilometres in Mandya district of Karnataka.
A number of senior Congress leaders, including former chief minister Siddaramaiah and PCC president D K Shivakumar, walked along with the Gandhis.
Security personnel had a tough time controlling the crowds which jostled to get a glimpse of the Congress president.
This is the first time that Sonia Gandhi has joined a public event after recovering from COVID-19 earlier this year. The Congress president had contracted coronavirus twice and was also hospitalised.
Sonia Gandhi has not been electioneering or participating in public events of the party for a long time due to health reasons.
She had last participated in a roadshow in Varanasi in August 2016 where she sustained a shoulder injury and later underwent a surgery.
The 3,570 km long Bharat Jodo Yatra began from Kanyakumari on September 8. With the Yatra, the Congress said it wants to combat the alleged divisive politics of the BJP-led Central government. (Agencies)

New Delhi, Oct 6: India recorded 2,529 new coronavirus infections taking the total tally of COVID-19 cases to 4,46,04,463, while the active cases dipped to 32,282, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Thursday.
The death toll climbed to 5,28,745 with 12 fatalities which includes eight deaths reconciled by Kerala, the data updated at 8 am stated.
The active cases comprise 0.07 per cent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate increased to 98.74 per cent, the ministry said.
A decline of 1,036 cases has been recorded in the active COVID-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours.
The daily positivity rate was recorded at 2.07 per cent and the weekly positivity rate at 1.38 per cent, according to the ministry.
The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 4,40,43,436, while the case fatality rate was recorded at 1.19 per cent.
According to the ministry, 218.84 crore doses of Covid vaccine have been administered in the country so far under the nationwide vaccination drive.
India’s COVID-19 tally had crossed the 20-lakh mark on August 7, 2020, 30 lakh on August 23, 40 lakh on September 5 and 50 lakh on September 16. It went past 60 lakh on September 28, 70 lakh on October 11, crossed 80 lakh on October 29, 90 lakh on November 20 and surpassed the one-crore mark on December 19.
The country crossed the grim milestone of two crore on May 4 and three crore on June 23 last year. It crossed the four-crore mark on January 25 this year. (Agencies)