Uttarakhand: The Fight Back

It may not be a war zone,but what has been in operation in Gauchar,located near Joshimath in Chamoli district,over the past 10 days is a rescue effort like none before seen in the country:

The largest ever civil relief air evacuation carried out by the armed forces,using helicopters otherwise designed to carry troops,drop bombs and conduct surveillance. Against an unforgiving enemy—the weather. Its force guaranteed to be deadly. The only defence being innovation,planning and precise execution. At stake,44,000 lives,stuck in Kedarnath,Harsil and Badrinath. At hand,50 aircraft,operating from main hub Gauchar and the air base at Jolly Grant in Dehradun.

By Friday,June 28,a record 15,454 people had been airlifted from various parts of the state by the Air Force. The Army,with its smaller aviation arm,had evacuated 3,357. Most of the others had also been taken to safe zones,by road.

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Around 4 am,the first signs of activity are seen at Gauchar. Maintenance staff get to work on the helicopters,getting them flight ready within two hours. Army soldiers buzz around. By 6 am,pilots and other crew are poised for take-off,marching up to the choppers in their dungarees,helmets by their sides.

The first precaution is checking the weather—with a quick estimation of whether the skies are likely to remain clear. A clearance is also needed from the air traffic control.

Giving an idea of the planning involved,an Air Force officer associated with the relief operations said: “After we found out that the number of people to be evacuated was thousands and not hundreds,like we have tackled several times in the past,it turned into a war effort. Choppers and crew were brought in from all available centres—Jammu,Sarsawa,Barrackpore and Pathankot. Units were asked to deploy their most able pilots and best machines.”

The choppers and crew were inducted within hours,after a briefing on the terrain,weather,ground situation,call signals and hazards by reconnaissance teams that had gone up in smaller Cheetah choppers to scout possible landing areas,positions of stranded persons and flight paths.

While the Air Force brought in 37 helicopters—a mix of Mi-17s,ALHs,Cheetahs and even a gigantic Mi-26—the Army pitched in with its ALHs and Cheetahs. Areas were charted out and the missions split.

The joint control room in Dehradun monitored evacuations by the hour and directed machines to places where required. “The idea was to have not a single sortie go waste—be it relief material,pilgrims or airlifting the administration,” an official said.

Evacuation,it was planned,would be carried out in the sectors of Kedarnath,Harsil and Badrinath,in that priority. People would be lifted from helipads at the locations and dropped to the nearest landing zones with road links.

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It wouldn’t BE as simple as that—as officers soon realised— requiring on-the-spot innovative solutions. The biggest obstacle was finding landing zones in the most difficult areas in the Kedar valley. In the treacherous Jungle Chatti area,there was no space to even land a tiny Cheetah—and this was when a group of soldiers stepped forward. Choppers hovering over,they jumped off on to a small stretch of footpath that had somehow survived the landslides. “They literally jumped out from mid-air and held on to the ground,” an Army officer said.

Once on the ground,they fashioned a makeshift helipad. The space they would carve out would eventually help save over 1,000 pilgrims stranded for four days without food or water.

The next big challenge was refuelling. All choppers are fuel guzzlers and the lack of resources in the state hit operations within a day. The solution found was again unique. Pressing the world’s largest helicopter,the Mi-26,into service,the Air Force lifted a fuel bowser on to the Dharasu landing strip,acting as reinforcement for Gauchar. Then,the latest transport aircraft of the IAF,the C-130 J,managed to land on the 1,300-ft strip. Its task was to empty its massive fuel tanks — with 8,000 tonnes of aviation fuel — into the waiting bowser.

“With the availability of additional fuel,the rescue operations picked up pace and available helicopters were able to make more number of trips,” an Air Force spokesperson said.

Once the logistics and machines were in place,the swift execution of the largest air evacuation unfolded.

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Despite the planning and innovation,the challenge of the task they were facing was underlined by the crash of the Mi-17 V5 on July 25,claiming 20 lives in the Kedar valley.

But there were many others risking their lives. Like the crew aboard the two IAF ALH helicopters who flew to Kedarnath on July 23 afternoon amid low clouds and rainy conditions to evacuate 20 stranded people. A similar flight by Army Aviation’s Col Suneet Sohal evacuated pilgrims to Dehradun the same evening amid zero visibility conditions. Normally,neither of the three flights should have even taken off.

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There have been others chipping in. Various NGOs have set up relief camps and are providing free food to people visiting the Gauchar camp,those rescued,those searching for near and dear ones,and tired Army personnel. Every evening,women of the area gather to cook for those who spend the night near the camp,guarding the choppers.

“We told our families we also need to contribute. Thus,we decided to cook food for the jawans rescuing people. Our husbands and children also help us. After the NGOs work throughout the day,we take over,” said Shashi Negi,a Gauchar resident.

Private medical practitioners have come from Delhi and Rajasthan and are offering their services free to the evacuees. “We are mainly giving anti-allergy drugs,painkillers and antibiotics,” said Dr Musharraf Raza from Rajasthan.

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By 6.30-7 pm,the air operations are halted. As the sun sets,the jawans retire to a dharamshala in the same complex. “After a long day,we discuss the things we all did. Since our families are concerned about the ongoing situation in Uttarakhand,we also talk to them around this time. Before we call it a day,a briefing for the next day is given by our superior officers,” said Army Subedar Kuldeep Singh. The Air Force also discusses operations with its pilots at the end of every day.

The pilots and other senior officers are camping in both official and private accommodations in the base camp’s vicinity.

It’s around 10 pm by the time the day is over. 4 am is just six hours away.

THE NUMBERS

IAF

Choppers deployed

(19 Mi-17s,14 ALHs,

3 Cheetahs and 1 Mi-26)

Total sorties flown 1,857

Persons evacuated 15,454

Load landed 2,67,780 kg

ARMY

Choppers deployed 13

Sorties flown 661

People evacuated 3,357

Load carried 20,450 kg

THE MACHINES IN

ACTION

Mi-26: The largest military helicopter in the world is a Russian import designed to carry extra heavy cargo. Can carry up to 20 tonnes in its massive cabin as well as underslung.

Mi-17: The workhorse of the IAF is a hardy Russian chopper that can carry four tonnes of cargo or close to 30 persons in each sortie.

ALH: The indigenous advanced light helicopter that is being used to evacuate over 10 persons per sortie was extremely handy at small landing pads and in narrow valleys.

Cheetah: The small chopper has been used mainly for reconnaissance missions.

C-130 J: The special operations aircraft is being used to map out the terrain,look for survivors and to land fuel and supplies essential for chopper operations to be carried out

THE last mission of the big boy

The Uttarakhand flood relief could well be the last major mission for the ageing Mi-26 helicopter—the largest chopper in the world that is capable of transporting over 20 tonnes of load. The ageing chopper is shortly to be replaced by the US-made Chinook and is on its last legs. In fact,when the chopper was called in for the mission to Uttarakhand,it had just 70 hours of flying time left. Some part of it has already been consumed in the operations and more will be used up as Uttarakhand has requested the IAF for its use in reconstruction work.