Deprecated (16384): The ArrayAccess methods will be removed in 4.0.0.Use getParam(), getData() and getQuery() instead. - /home/brlfuser/public_html/src/Controller/ArtileDetailController.php, line: 73
 You can disable deprecation warnings by setting `Error.errorLevel` to `E_ALL & ~E_USER_DEPRECATED` in your config/app.php. [CORE/src/Core/functions.php, line 311]
Code Context


        trigger_error($message, E_USER_DEPRECATED);

    }
$message = 'The ArrayAccess methods will be removed in 4.0.0.Use getParam(), getData() and getQuery() instead. - /home/brlfuser/public_html/src/Controller/ArtileDetailController.php, line: 73
 You can disable deprecation warnings by setting `Error.errorLevel` to `E_ALL & ~E_USER_DEPRECATED` in your config/app.php.'
$stackFrame = (int) 1
$trace = [
	(int) 0 => [
		'file' => '/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Http/ServerRequest.php',
		'line' => (int) 2421,
		'function' => 'deprecationWarning',
		'args' => [
			(int) 0 => 'The ArrayAccess methods will be removed in 4.0.0.Use getParam(), getData() and getQuery() instead.'
		]
	],
	(int) 1 => [
		'file' => '/home/brlfuser/public_html/src/Controller/ArtileDetailController.php',
		'line' => (int) 73,
		'function' => 'offsetGet',
		'class' => 'Cake\Http\ServerRequest',
		'object' => object(Cake\Http\ServerRequest) {},
		'type' => '->',
		'args' => [
			(int) 0 => 'catslug'
		]
	],
	(int) 2 => [
		'file' => '/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Controller/Controller.php',
		'line' => (int) 610,
		'function' => 'printArticle',
		'class' => 'App\Controller\ArtileDetailController',
		'object' => object(App\Controller\ArtileDetailController) {},
		'type' => '->',
		'args' => []
	],
	(int) 3 => [
		'file' => '/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Http/ActionDispatcher.php',
		'line' => (int) 120,
		'function' => 'invokeAction',
		'class' => 'Cake\Controller\Controller',
		'object' => object(App\Controller\ArtileDetailController) {},
		'type' => '->',
		'args' => []
	],
	(int) 4 => [
		'file' => '/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Http/ActionDispatcher.php',
		'line' => (int) 94,
		'function' => '_invoke',
		'class' => 'Cake\Http\ActionDispatcher',
		'object' => object(Cake\Http\ActionDispatcher) {},
		'type' => '->',
		'args' => [
			(int) 0 => object(App\Controller\ArtileDetailController) {}
		]
	],
	(int) 5 => [
		'file' => '/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Http/BaseApplication.php',
		'line' => (int) 235,
		'function' => 'dispatch',
		'class' => 'Cake\Http\ActionDispatcher',
		'object' => object(Cake\Http\ActionDispatcher) {},
		'type' => '->',
		'args' => [
			(int) 0 => object(Cake\Http\ServerRequest) {},
			(int) 1 => object(Cake\Http\Response) {}
		]
	],
	(int) 6 => [
		'file' => '/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Http/Runner.php',
		'line' => (int) 65,
		'function' => '__invoke',
		'class' => 'Cake\Http\BaseApplication',
		'object' => object(App\Application) {},
		'type' => '->',
		'args' => [
			(int) 0 => object(Cake\Http\ServerRequest) {},
			(int) 1 => object(Cake\Http\Response) {},
			(int) 2 => object(Cake\Http\Runner) {}
		]
	],
	(int) 7 => [
		'file' => '/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Routing/Middleware/RoutingMiddleware.php',
		'line' => (int) 162,
		'function' => '__invoke',
		'class' => 'Cake\Http\Runner',
		'object' => object(Cake\Http\Runner) {},
		'type' => '->',
		'args' => [
			(int) 0 => object(Cake\Http\ServerRequest) {},
			(int) 1 => object(Cake\Http\Response) {}
		]
	],
	(int) 8 => [
		'file' => '/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Http/Runner.php',
		'line' => (int) 65,
		'function' => '__invoke',
		'class' => 'Cake\Routing\Middleware\RoutingMiddleware',
		'object' => object(Cake\Routing\Middleware\RoutingMiddleware) {},
		'type' => '->',
		'args' => [
			(int) 0 => object(Cake\Http\ServerRequest) {},
			(int) 1 => object(Cake\Http\Response) {},
			(int) 2 => object(Cake\Http\Runner) {}
		]
	],
	(int) 9 => [
		'file' => '/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Routing/Middleware/AssetMiddleware.php',
		'line' => (int) 88,
		'function' => '__invoke',
		'class' => 'Cake\Http\Runner',
		'object' => object(Cake\Http\Runner) {},
		'type' => '->',
		'args' => [
			(int) 0 => object(Cake\Http\ServerRequest) {},
			(int) 1 => object(Cake\Http\Response) {}
		]
	],
	(int) 10 => [
		'file' => '/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Http/Runner.php',
		'line' => (int) 65,
		'function' => '__invoke',
		'class' => 'Cake\Routing\Middleware\AssetMiddleware',
		'object' => object(Cake\Routing\Middleware\AssetMiddleware) {},
		'type' => '->',
		'args' => [
			(int) 0 => object(Cake\Http\ServerRequest) {},
			(int) 1 => object(Cake\Http\Response) {},
			(int) 2 => object(Cake\Http\Runner) {}
		]
	],
	(int) 11 => [
		'file' => '/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Middleware/ErrorHandlerMiddleware.php',
		'line' => (int) 96,
		'function' => '__invoke',
		'class' => 'Cake\Http\Runner',
		'object' => object(Cake\Http\Runner) {},
		'type' => '->',
		'args' => [
			(int) 0 => object(Cake\Http\ServerRequest) {},
			(int) 1 => object(Cake\Http\Response) {}
		]
	],
	(int) 12 => [
		'file' => '/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Http/Runner.php',
		'line' => (int) 65,
		'function' => '__invoke',
		'class' => 'Cake\Error\Middleware\ErrorHandlerMiddleware',
		'object' => object(Cake\Error\Middleware\ErrorHandlerMiddleware) {},
		'type' => '->',
		'args' => [
			(int) 0 => object(Cake\Http\ServerRequest) {},
			(int) 1 => object(Cake\Http\Response) {},
			(int) 2 => object(Cake\Http\Runner) {}
		]
	],
	(int) 13 => [
		'file' => '/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Http/Runner.php',
		'line' => (int) 51,
		'function' => '__invoke',
		'class' => 'Cake\Http\Runner',
		'object' => object(Cake\Http\Runner) {},
		'type' => '->',
		'args' => [
			(int) 0 => object(Cake\Http\ServerRequest) {},
			(int) 1 => object(Cake\Http\Response) {}
		]
	],
	(int) 14 => [
		'file' => '/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Http/Server.php',
		'line' => (int) 98,
		'function' => 'run',
		'class' => 'Cake\Http\Runner',
		'object' => object(Cake\Http\Runner) {},
		'type' => '->',
		'args' => [
			(int) 0 => object(Cake\Http\MiddlewareQueue) {},
			(int) 1 => object(Cake\Http\ServerRequest) {},
			(int) 2 => object(Cake\Http\Response) {}
		]
	],
	(int) 15 => [
		'file' => '/home/brlfuser/public_html/webroot/index.php',
		'line' => (int) 39,
		'function' => 'run',
		'class' => 'Cake\Http\Server',
		'object' => object(Cake\Http\Server) {},
		'type' => '->',
		'args' => []
	]
]
$frame = [
	'file' => '/home/brlfuser/public_html/src/Controller/ArtileDetailController.php',
	'line' => (int) 73,
	'function' => 'offsetGet',
	'class' => 'Cake\Http\ServerRequest',
	'object' => object(Cake\Http\ServerRequest) {
		trustProxy => false
		[protected] params => [
			[maximum depth reached]
		]
		[protected] data => [[maximum depth reached]]
		[protected] query => [[maximum depth reached]]
		[protected] cookies => [
			[maximum depth reached]
		]
		[protected] _environment => [
			[maximum depth reached]
		]
		[protected] url => 'news-alerts-57/scale-of-2013-uttarakhand-disaster-could-have-been-lessened-says-cag-report-4677834/print'
		[protected] base => ''
		[protected] webroot => '/'
		[protected] here => '/news-alerts-57/scale-of-2013-uttarakhand-disaster-could-have-been-lessened-says-cag-report-4677834/print'
		[protected] trustedProxies => [[maximum depth reached]]
		[protected] _input => null
		[protected] _detectors => [
			[maximum depth reached]
		]
		[protected] _detectorCache => [
			[maximum depth reached]
		]
		[protected] stream => object(Zend\Diactoros\PhpInputStream) {}
		[protected] uri => object(Zend\Diactoros\Uri) {}
		[protected] session => object(Cake\Http\Session) {}
		[protected] attributes => [[maximum depth reached]]
		[protected] emulatedAttributes => [
			[maximum depth reached]
		]
		[protected] uploadedFiles => [[maximum depth reached]]
		[protected] protocol => null
		[protected] requestTarget => null
		[private] deprecatedProperties => [
			[maximum depth reached]
		]
	},
	'type' => '->',
	'args' => [
		(int) 0 => 'catslug'
	]
]
deprecationWarning - CORE/src/Core/functions.php, line 311
Cake\Http\ServerRequest::offsetGet() - CORE/src/Http/ServerRequest.php, line 2421
App\Controller\ArtileDetailController::printArticle() - APP/Controller/ArtileDetailController.php, line 73
Cake\Controller\Controller::invokeAction() - CORE/src/Controller/Controller.php, line 610
Cake\Http\ActionDispatcher::_invoke() - CORE/src/Http/ActionDispatcher.php, line 120
Cake\Http\ActionDispatcher::dispatch() - CORE/src/Http/ActionDispatcher.php, line 94
Cake\Http\BaseApplication::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/BaseApplication.php, line 235
Cake\Http\Runner::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 65
Cake\Routing\Middleware\RoutingMiddleware::__invoke() - CORE/src/Routing/Middleware/RoutingMiddleware.php, line 162
Cake\Http\Runner::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 65
Cake\Routing\Middleware\AssetMiddleware::__invoke() - CORE/src/Routing/Middleware/AssetMiddleware.php, line 88
Cake\Http\Runner::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 65
Cake\Error\Middleware\ErrorHandlerMiddleware::__invoke() - CORE/src/Error/Middleware/ErrorHandlerMiddleware.php, line 96
Cake\Http\Runner::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 65
Cake\Http\Runner::run() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 51
Cake\Http\Server::run() - CORE/src/Http/Server.php, line 98

Deprecated (16384): The ArrayAccess methods will be removed in 4.0.0.Use getParam(), getData() and getQuery() instead. - /home/brlfuser/public_html/src/Controller/ArtileDetailController.php, line: 74
 You can disable deprecation warnings by setting `Error.errorLevel` to `E_ALL & ~E_USER_DEPRECATED` in your config/app.php. [CORE/src/Core/functions.php, line 311]
Code Context


        trigger_error($message, E_USER_DEPRECATED);

    }
$message = 'The ArrayAccess methods will be removed in 4.0.0.Use getParam(), getData() and getQuery() instead. - /home/brlfuser/public_html/src/Controller/ArtileDetailController.php, line: 74
 You can disable deprecation warnings by setting `Error.errorLevel` to `E_ALL & ~E_USER_DEPRECATED` in your config/app.php.'
$stackFrame = (int) 1
$trace = [
	(int) 0 => [
		'file' => '/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Http/ServerRequest.php',
		'line' => (int) 2421,
		'function' => 'deprecationWarning',
		'args' => [
			(int) 0 => 'The ArrayAccess methods will be removed in 4.0.0.Use getParam(), getData() and getQuery() instead.'
		]
	],
	(int) 1 => [
		'file' => '/home/brlfuser/public_html/src/Controller/ArtileDetailController.php',
		'line' => (int) 74,
		'function' => 'offsetGet',
		'class' => 'Cake\Http\ServerRequest',
		'object' => object(Cake\Http\ServerRequest) {},
		'type' => '->',
		'args' => [
			(int) 0 => 'artileslug'
		]
	],
	(int) 2 => [
		'file' => '/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Controller/Controller.php',
		'line' => (int) 610,
		'function' => 'printArticle',
		'class' => 'App\Controller\ArtileDetailController',
		'object' => object(App\Controller\ArtileDetailController) {},
		'type' => '->',
		'args' => []
	],
	(int) 3 => [
		'file' => '/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Http/ActionDispatcher.php',
		'line' => (int) 120,
		'function' => 'invokeAction',
		'class' => 'Cake\Controller\Controller',
		'object' => object(App\Controller\ArtileDetailController) {},
		'type' => '->',
		'args' => []
	],
	(int) 4 => [
		'file' => '/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Http/ActionDispatcher.php',
		'line' => (int) 94,
		'function' => '_invoke',
		'class' => 'Cake\Http\ActionDispatcher',
		'object' => object(Cake\Http\ActionDispatcher) {},
		'type' => '->',
		'args' => [
			(int) 0 => object(App\Controller\ArtileDetailController) {}
		]
	],
	(int) 5 => [
		'file' => '/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Http/BaseApplication.php',
		'line' => (int) 235,
		'function' => 'dispatch',
		'class' => 'Cake\Http\ActionDispatcher',
		'object' => object(Cake\Http\ActionDispatcher) {},
		'type' => '->',
		'args' => [
			(int) 0 => object(Cake\Http\ServerRequest) {},
			(int) 1 => object(Cake\Http\Response) {}
		]
	],
	(int) 6 => [
		'file' => '/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Http/Runner.php',
		'line' => (int) 65,
		'function' => '__invoke',
		'class' => 'Cake\Http\BaseApplication',
		'object' => object(App\Application) {},
		'type' => '->',
		'args' => [
			(int) 0 => object(Cake\Http\ServerRequest) {},
			(int) 1 => object(Cake\Http\Response) {},
			(int) 2 => object(Cake\Http\Runner) {}
		]
	],
	(int) 7 => [
		'file' => '/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Routing/Middleware/RoutingMiddleware.php',
		'line' => (int) 162,
		'function' => '__invoke',
		'class' => 'Cake\Http\Runner',
		'object' => object(Cake\Http\Runner) {},
		'type' => '->',
		'args' => [
			(int) 0 => object(Cake\Http\ServerRequest) {},
			(int) 1 => object(Cake\Http\Response) {}
		]
	],
	(int) 8 => [
		'file' => '/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Http/Runner.php',
		'line' => (int) 65,
		'function' => '__invoke',
		'class' => 'Cake\Routing\Middleware\RoutingMiddleware',
		'object' => object(Cake\Routing\Middleware\RoutingMiddleware) {},
		'type' => '->',
		'args' => [
			(int) 0 => object(Cake\Http\ServerRequest) {},
			(int) 1 => object(Cake\Http\Response) {},
			(int) 2 => object(Cake\Http\Runner) {}
		]
	],
	(int) 9 => [
		'file' => '/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Routing/Middleware/AssetMiddleware.php',
		'line' => (int) 88,
		'function' => '__invoke',
		'class' => 'Cake\Http\Runner',
		'object' => object(Cake\Http\Runner) {},
		'type' => '->',
		'args' => [
			(int) 0 => object(Cake\Http\ServerRequest) {},
			(int) 1 => object(Cake\Http\Response) {}
		]
	],
	(int) 10 => [
		'file' => '/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Http/Runner.php',
		'line' => (int) 65,
		'function' => '__invoke',
		'class' => 'Cake\Routing\Middleware\AssetMiddleware',
		'object' => object(Cake\Routing\Middleware\AssetMiddleware) {},
		'type' => '->',
		'args' => [
			(int) 0 => object(Cake\Http\ServerRequest) {},
			(int) 1 => object(Cake\Http\Response) {},
			(int) 2 => object(Cake\Http\Runner) {}
		]
	],
	(int) 11 => [
		'file' => '/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Middleware/ErrorHandlerMiddleware.php',
		'line' => (int) 96,
		'function' => '__invoke',
		'class' => 'Cake\Http\Runner',
		'object' => object(Cake\Http\Runner) {},
		'type' => '->',
		'args' => [
			(int) 0 => object(Cake\Http\ServerRequest) {},
			(int) 1 => object(Cake\Http\Response) {}
		]
	],
	(int) 12 => [
		'file' => '/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Http/Runner.php',
		'line' => (int) 65,
		'function' => '__invoke',
		'class' => 'Cake\Error\Middleware\ErrorHandlerMiddleware',
		'object' => object(Cake\Error\Middleware\ErrorHandlerMiddleware) {},
		'type' => '->',
		'args' => [
			(int) 0 => object(Cake\Http\ServerRequest) {},
			(int) 1 => object(Cake\Http\Response) {},
			(int) 2 => object(Cake\Http\Runner) {}
		]
	],
	(int) 13 => [
		'file' => '/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Http/Runner.php',
		'line' => (int) 51,
		'function' => '__invoke',
		'class' => 'Cake\Http\Runner',
		'object' => object(Cake\Http\Runner) {},
		'type' => '->',
		'args' => [
			(int) 0 => object(Cake\Http\ServerRequest) {},
			(int) 1 => object(Cake\Http\Response) {}
		]
	],
	(int) 14 => [
		'file' => '/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Http/Server.php',
		'line' => (int) 98,
		'function' => 'run',
		'class' => 'Cake\Http\Runner',
		'object' => object(Cake\Http\Runner) {},
		'type' => '->',
		'args' => [
			(int) 0 => object(Cake\Http\MiddlewareQueue) {},
			(int) 1 => object(Cake\Http\ServerRequest) {},
			(int) 2 => object(Cake\Http\Response) {}
		]
	],
	(int) 15 => [
		'file' => '/home/brlfuser/public_html/webroot/index.php',
		'line' => (int) 39,
		'function' => 'run',
		'class' => 'Cake\Http\Server',
		'object' => object(Cake\Http\Server) {},
		'type' => '->',
		'args' => []
	]
]
$frame = [
	'file' => '/home/brlfuser/public_html/src/Controller/ArtileDetailController.php',
	'line' => (int) 74,
	'function' => 'offsetGet',
	'class' => 'Cake\Http\ServerRequest',
	'object' => object(Cake\Http\ServerRequest) {
		trustProxy => false
		[protected] params => [
			[maximum depth reached]
		]
		[protected] data => [[maximum depth reached]]
		[protected] query => [[maximum depth reached]]
		[protected] cookies => [
			[maximum depth reached]
		]
		[protected] _environment => [
			[maximum depth reached]
		]
		[protected] url => 'news-alerts-57/scale-of-2013-uttarakhand-disaster-could-have-been-lessened-says-cag-report-4677834/print'
		[protected] base => ''
		[protected] webroot => '/'
		[protected] here => '/news-alerts-57/scale-of-2013-uttarakhand-disaster-could-have-been-lessened-says-cag-report-4677834/print'
		[protected] trustedProxies => [[maximum depth reached]]
		[protected] _input => null
		[protected] _detectors => [
			[maximum depth reached]
		]
		[protected] _detectorCache => [
			[maximum depth reached]
		]
		[protected] stream => object(Zend\Diactoros\PhpInputStream) {}
		[protected] uri => object(Zend\Diactoros\Uri) {}
		[protected] session => object(Cake\Http\Session) {}
		[protected] attributes => [[maximum depth reached]]
		[protected] emulatedAttributes => [
			[maximum depth reached]
		]
		[protected] uploadedFiles => [[maximum depth reached]]
		[protected] protocol => null
		[protected] requestTarget => null
		[private] deprecatedProperties => [
			[maximum depth reached]
		]
	},
	'type' => '->',
	'args' => [
		(int) 0 => 'artileslug'
	]
]
deprecationWarning - CORE/src/Core/functions.php, line 311
Cake\Http\ServerRequest::offsetGet() - CORE/src/Http/ServerRequest.php, line 2421
App\Controller\ArtileDetailController::printArticle() - APP/Controller/ArtileDetailController.php, line 74
Cake\Controller\Controller::invokeAction() - CORE/src/Controller/Controller.php, line 610
Cake\Http\ActionDispatcher::_invoke() - CORE/src/Http/ActionDispatcher.php, line 120
Cake\Http\ActionDispatcher::dispatch() - CORE/src/Http/ActionDispatcher.php, line 94
Cake\Http\BaseApplication::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/BaseApplication.php, line 235
Cake\Http\Runner::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 65
Cake\Routing\Middleware\RoutingMiddleware::__invoke() - CORE/src/Routing/Middleware/RoutingMiddleware.php, line 162
Cake\Http\Runner::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 65
Cake\Routing\Middleware\AssetMiddleware::__invoke() - CORE/src/Routing/Middleware/AssetMiddleware.php, line 88
Cake\Http\Runner::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 65
Cake\Error\Middleware\ErrorHandlerMiddleware::__invoke() - CORE/src/Error/Middleware/ErrorHandlerMiddleware.php, line 96
Cake\Http\Runner::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 65
Cake\Http\Runner::run() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 51
Cake\Http\Server::run() - CORE/src/Http/Server.php, line 98

Warning (512): Unable to emit headers. Headers sent in file=/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php line=853 [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 48]
Code Context
            if (Configure::read('debug')) {

                trigger_error($message, E_USER_WARNING);

            } else {
$response = object(Cake\Http\Response) {

	'status' => (int) 200,
	'contentType' => 'text/html',
	'headers' => [
		'Content-Type' => [
			[maximum depth reached]
		]
	],
	'file' => null,
	'fileRange' => [],
	'cookies' => object(Cake\Http\Cookie\CookieCollection) {},
	'cacheDirectives' => [],
	'body' => '<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN"
        "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
<head>
    <link rel="canonical" href="https://im4change.in/<pre class="cake-error"><a href="javascript:void(0);" onclick="document.getElementById('cakeErr67f7f06c3fe10-trace').style.display = (document.getElementById('cakeErr67f7f06c3fe10-trace').style.display == 'none' ? '' : 'none');"><b>Notice</b> (8)</a>: Undefined variable: urlPrefix [<b>APP/Template/Layout/printlayout.ctp</b>, line <b>8</b>]<div id="cakeErr67f7f06c3fe10-trace" class="cake-stack-trace" style="display: none;"><a href="javascript:void(0);" onclick="document.getElementById('cakeErr67f7f06c3fe10-code').style.display = (document.getElementById('cakeErr67f7f06c3fe10-code').style.display == 'none' ? '' : 'none')">Code</a> <a href="javascript:void(0);" onclick="document.getElementById('cakeErr67f7f06c3fe10-context').style.display = (document.getElementById('cakeErr67f7f06c3fe10-context').style.display == 'none' ? '' : 'none')">Context</a><pre id="cakeErr67f7f06c3fe10-code" class="cake-code-dump" style="display: none;"><code><span style="color: #000000"><span style="color: #0000BB"></span><span style="color: #007700">&lt;</span><span style="color: #0000BB">head</span><span style="color: #007700">&gt;
</span></span></code>
<span class="code-highlight"><code><span style="color: #000000">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&lt;link&nbsp;rel="canonical"&nbsp;href="<span style="color: #0000BB">&lt;?php&nbsp;</span><span style="color: #007700">echo&nbsp;</span><span style="color: #0000BB">Configure</span><span style="color: #007700">::</span><span style="color: #0000BB">read</span><span style="color: #007700">(</span><span style="color: #DD0000">'SITE_URL'</span><span style="color: #007700">);&nbsp;</span><span style="color: #0000BB">?&gt;&lt;?php&nbsp;</span><span style="color: #007700">echo&nbsp;</span><span style="color: #0000BB">$urlPrefix</span><span style="color: #007700">;</span><span style="color: #0000BB">?&gt;&lt;?php&nbsp;</span><span style="color: #007700">echo&nbsp;</span><span style="color: #0000BB">$article_current</span><span style="color: #007700">-&gt;</span><span style="color: #0000BB">category</span><span style="color: #007700">-&gt;</span><span style="color: #0000BB">slug</span><span style="color: #007700">;&nbsp;</span><span style="color: #0000BB">?&gt;</span>/<span style="color: #0000BB">&lt;?php&nbsp;</span><span style="color: #007700">echo&nbsp;</span><span style="color: #0000BB">$article_current</span><span style="color: #007700">-&gt;</span><span style="color: #0000BB">seo_url</span><span style="color: #007700">;&nbsp;</span><span style="color: #0000BB">?&gt;</span>.html"/&gt;
</span></code></span>
<code><span style="color: #000000"><span style="color: #0000BB">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</span><span style="color: #007700">&lt;</span><span style="color: #0000BB">meta&nbsp;http</span><span style="color: #007700">-</span><span style="color: #0000BB">equiv</span><span style="color: #007700">=</span><span style="color: #DD0000">"Content-Type"&nbsp;</span><span style="color: #0000BB">content</span><span style="color: #007700">=</span><span style="color: #DD0000">"text/html;&nbsp;charset=utf-8"</span><span style="color: #007700">/&gt;
</span></span></code></pre><pre id="cakeErr67f7f06c3fe10-context" class="cake-context" style="display: none;">$viewFile = &#039;/home/brlfuser/public_html/src/Template/Layout/printlayout.ctp&#039;
$dataForView = [
	&#039;article_current&#039; =&gt; object(App\Model\Entity\Article) {

		&#039;id&#039; =&gt; (int) 29777,
		&#039;title&#039; =&gt; &#039;Scale of 2013 Uttarakhand disaster could have been lessened, says CAG report&#039;,
		&#039;subheading&#039; =&gt; &#039;&#039;,
		&#039;description&#039; =&gt; &#039;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align:justify&quot;&gt;As Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh fight the fury of flood caused by annual northeast monsoon, a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) on the natural disaster in Uttarakhand, which took place in June 2013, has been made available in the&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.saiindia.gov.in/english/home/Our_Products/Audit_Report/Government_Wise/state_audit/recent_reports/Uttarakhand/2015/Report_2/2standAlone.html&quot;&gt;public domain&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;recently. The &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot;&gt;CAG report&lt;/a&gt; discloses how various development activities in the state flouted guidelines issued by the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF), Expert Committee on glaciers and various other agencies.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/div&gt;

&lt;div style=&quot;text-align:justify&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
The state of Uttarakhand did not follow the directions given by the MoEF regarding safe disposal of muck generated from excavation during the course of construction activities, points out &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot;&gt;the report&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Unsafe and unscientific disposal of debris originating from excavations and other developmental activities increased the risks of landslides. Excavated debris, disposed of along the hill slopes, often slid down the slopes, thus, overrunning the agricultural fields and water resources, apart from causing significant loss of vegetation cover on vulnerable hill slopes. When such debris reached river bed and reservoirs, it caused the problem of aggradations and reduced reservoir capacity.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
The &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot;&gt;CAG report&lt;/a&gt; finds that regulations for slope stabilisation, disposal of debris and river side aggradation were not in place to take care of the environmental issues as envisaged in the MoEF guidelines.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
No control was exercised over riverside constructions. Town-planning and building by-laws were not enforced properly. As a consequence, riverside constructions sustained most damage during the floods of June 2013, finds the &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot;&gt;CAG report&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
There was no policy in place to regulate the use of explosives for infrastructure development works in the fragile Himalayan terrain. The state government of Uttarakhand paid little or no attention to the recommendations made by the Disaster Mitigation and Management Centre (DMMC), which asked for banning the use of explosives for infrastructure development in the fragile Himalayan terrain since such explosions led to instability in the surrounding rock strata, says the &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot;&gt;CAG report&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
The &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot;&gt;CAG report&lt;/a&gt; also throws light on the unpreparedness of the State Disaster Management Authority (SDMA) that aggravated the implications of the disaster, namely cloudburst followed by flash floods and landslides, which impacted Uttarakhand during the 3rd week of June, 2013. &amp;nbsp;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
The &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot;&gt;CAG report&lt;/a&gt; states that the SDMA did not initiate the remedial measures as suggested by the Expert Committee on Glaciers and the DMMC prior to the June 2013 disaster taking into consideration the climatic changes and incidents of landslides that were occurring time and again in the state.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
The state government of Uttarakhand had no State Disaster Management policy and guidelines prior to June 2013 disaster for the purpose of measures required for preventing and mitigating disaster and for providing relief to disaster affected persons. The SDMA was virtually non-functional since its inception and it had no State Disaster Management Plan before the disaster struck in June 2013. The Standard Operating Procedures were entirely absent, says the &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot;&gt;CAG report&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Despite the occurrence of two major landslides in Uttarkashi and Rudraprayag districts due to unprecedented rainfall in 2012, the state government failed to take into account the underlying risk factors and undertake any corrective measures at any stage subsequently.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
The &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot;&gt;CAG report&lt;/a&gt; mentions that river bed clearance and construction of embankments were undertaken during September-November 2013, although those works were promised to be finished much earlier following the disasters of 2010 and 2012.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Following the June 2013 disaster, it has been found by &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot;&gt;the CAG report&lt;/a&gt; that Emergency Operation Centres both at the state and district levels were running without adequate manpower, equipment and essential communication networks. Following the floods, the District Disaster Management Authorities (DDMA) could not activate the command system to conduct search, rescue and carry out relief operations.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
The State machinery and the district administration could not respond effectively due to poor weather and lack of preparedness after the disaster. The helipads were unavailable for smooth operation of air evacuation. Necessary search and rescue equipments like emergency lights, inflatable lights, solar lights, gas cutters, wood cutters etc. were unavailable in the District Emergency Operation Centres of the affected districts i.e. Bageshwar, Chamoli, Pithoragarh, Rudraprayag and Uttarkashi.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
The rescue operation was hampered by non-availability of sound communication network. Coordination among various line departments was lacking. There was dearth of uniformity in authentication of losses and disbursement of relief. In the absence of grievance redressal mechanism, most complaints pertaining to financial relief could not be attended to.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
The state government was unable to restore essential services like electricity, water and road connectivity on a permanent basis in the affected areas within prescribed time limits. Assessment of damages to infrastructure caused by floods was not undertaken properly, says the &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot;&gt;CAG report&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
The report has noted that non-identification of safe relief campsites put the lives of the affected people at risk. The state government did not have any mechanism in place to register the Char-Dham pilgrims who were trapped in the floods.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
It is worth noting that the performance audit was carried out by the CAG of India from September, 2014 to February, 2015 so as to assess the Government&amp;#39;s efforts in conducting rescue and relief operations, providing relief, restoring damaged infrastructure and rehabilitating affected people. It was tabled at the State Legislature Assembly of Uttarakhand on 3 November, 2015. The &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot;&gt;CAG report&lt;/a&gt; has found that 4,209 human lives were lost and 19,309 houses were destroyed in the Uttarakhand flash floods and landslides during June, 2013. The disaster also killed 17,838 livestocks in the state.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;emsp;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;References:&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Report No. - 2 of 2015 Government of Uttarakhand - Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India on Performance Audit of Natural Disaster in Uttarakhand June 2013, please &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot;&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt; to access&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;nbsp;&lt;br /&gt;
CAG pulls up Uttarakhand govt. over deluge, The Hindu, 7 November, 2015, please &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/other-states/cag-pulls-up-uttarakhand-govt-over-deluge/article7852955.ece&quot;&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt; to access&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
CAG report slams Uttarakhand govt -Nikita Mehta, Livemint.com, 6 November, 2015, please &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livemint.com/Politics/F94DyJe65ya152ypFp15gO/CAG-report-slams-Uttarakhand-govt.html&quot;&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt; to access&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Uttarakhand government&amp;#39;s slow response aggravated Kedar disaster, says CAG report -Gaurav Talwar, The Times of India, 4 November, 2015, please &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/latest-news-updates/uttarakhand-government039s-slow-response-aggravated-kedar-disaster-says-cag-report-gaurav-talwar-4677718.html&quot;&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt; to access&lt;/div&gt;

&lt;div style=&quot;text-align:justify&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/div&gt;

&lt;div style=&quot;text-align:justify&quot;&gt;When expedience trumps expertise-Ramachandra Guha, The Hindu, 11 July, 2013, please &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/when-expedience-trumps-expertise/article4902463.ece?homepage=true&quot;&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt; to access&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Dams and disasters in the Himalayas -Anirudh Burman, Live Mint, 9 July, 2013, please &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livemint.com/Opinion/tVqPyY4BOllrOMAWDqbRZN/Dams-and-disasters-in-Himalayas.html&quot;&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt; to access&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Blame game continues over Uttarakhand forecast -Kavita Upadhyay, The Hindu, 30 June, 2013, please &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/blame-game-continues-over-uttarakhand-forecast/article4866103.ece?homepage=true&quot;&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt; to access&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Watershed moment -Himanshu Upadhyaya, Timescrest.com, 29 June, 2013, please &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.timescrest.com/coverstory/watershed-moment-10601&quot;&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt; to access&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
CAG had warned last year about Uttarakhand crisis in making-Himanshu Upadhyaya, Governance Now, 27 June, 2013, please &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.governancenow.com/news/regular-story/cag-had-warned-last-year-about-uttarakhand-crisis-making&quot;&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt; to access&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Uttarakhand disaster plan doesn&amp;#39;t exist, CAG warned in April -Subodh Varma, The Times of India, 21 June, 2013, please &lt;a href=&quot;http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Uttarakhand-disaster-plan-doesnt-exist-CAG-warned-in-April/articleshow/20690268.cms&quot;&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt; to access &amp;nbsp;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
CAG had warned three years ago about damage to hills -Pradeep Thakur, The Times of India, 20 June, 2013, please &lt;a href=&quot;http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/CAG-had-warned-three-years-ago-about-damage-to-hills/articleshow/20674521.cms&quot;&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt; to access&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Report no.-5 of 2013-Union Government (Ministry of Home Affairs) - Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India on performance Audit of Disaster Preparedness in India, please &lt;a href=&quot;http://saiindia.gov.in/english/home/Our_Products/Audit_Report/Government_Wise/union_audit/recent_reports/union_performance/2013/Civil/Report_5/Report_5.html&quot;&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt; to access&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;strong&gt;Image Courtesy: Wikimedia Commons&lt;/strong&gt;, please &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kedarnath_Temple#/media/File:Kedarnath_Temple.jpg&quot;&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt; to access&lt;/div&gt;
&#039;,
		&#039;credit_writer&#039; =&gt; &#039;&#039;,
		&#039;article_img&#039; =&gt; &#039;im4change_75uttarakhand.jpg&#039;,
		&#039;article_img_thumb&#039; =&gt; &#039;im4change_75uttarakhand.jpg&#039;,
		&#039;status&#039; =&gt; (int) 1,
		&#039;show_on_home&#039; =&gt; (int) 1,
		&#039;lang&#039; =&gt; &#039;EN&#039;,
		&#039;category_id&#039; =&gt; (int) 4,
		&#039;tag_keyword&#039; =&gt; &#039;&#039;,
		&#039;seo_url&#039; =&gt; &#039;scale-of-2013-uttarakhand-disaster-could-have-been-lessened-says-cag-report-4677834&#039;,
		&#039;meta_title&#039; =&gt; &#039;&#039;,
		&#039;meta_keywords&#039; =&gt; &#039;&#039;,
		&#039;meta_description&#039; =&gt; &#039;&#039;,
		&#039;noindex&#039; =&gt; (int) 0,
		&#039;publish_date&#039; =&gt; object(Cake\I18n\FrozenDate) {},
		&#039;most_visit_section_id&#039; =&gt; null,
		&#039;article_big_img&#039; =&gt; null,
		&#039;liveid&#039; =&gt; (int) 4677834,
		&#039;created&#039; =&gt; object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
		&#039;modified&#039; =&gt; object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
		&#039;edate&#039; =&gt; &#039;&#039;,
		&#039;tags&#039; =&gt; [
			[maximum depth reached]
		],
		&#039;category&#039; =&gt; object(App\Model\Entity\Category) {},
		&#039;[new]&#039; =&gt; false,
		&#039;[accessible]&#039; =&gt; [
			[maximum depth reached]
		],
		&#039;[dirty]&#039; =&gt; [[maximum depth reached]],
		&#039;[original]&#039; =&gt; [[maximum depth reached]],
		&#039;[virtual]&#039; =&gt; [[maximum depth reached]],
		&#039;[hasErrors]&#039; =&gt; false,
		&#039;[errors]&#039; =&gt; [[maximum depth reached]],
		&#039;[invalid]&#039; =&gt; [[maximum depth reached]],
		&#039;[repository]&#039; =&gt; &#039;Articles&#039;
	
	},
	&#039;articleid&#039; =&gt; (int) 29777,
	&#039;metaTitle&#039; =&gt; &#039;NEWS ALERTS | Scale of 2013 Uttarakhand disaster could have been lessened, says CAG report&#039;,
	&#039;metaKeywords&#039; =&gt; &#039;flash flood,flash floods,flood,Landslides,uttarakhand&#039;,
	&#039;metaDesc&#039; =&gt; &#039;As Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh fight the fury of flood caused by annual northeast monsoon, a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) on the natural disaster in Uttarakhand, which took place in June 2013, has been made...&#039;,
	&#039;disp&#039; =&gt; &#039;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align:justify&quot;&gt;As Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh fight the fury of flood caused by annual northeast monsoon, a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) on the natural disaster in Uttarakhand, which took place in June 2013, has been made available in the&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.saiindia.gov.in/english/home/Our_Products/Audit_Report/Government_Wise/state_audit/recent_reports/Uttarakhand/2015/Report_2/2standAlone.html&quot; title=&quot;http://www.saiindia.gov.in/english/home/Our_Products/Audit_Report/Government_Wise/state_audit/recent_reports/Uttarakhand/2015/Report_2/2standAlone.html&quot;&gt;public domain&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;recently. The &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot; title=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot;&gt;CAG report&lt;/a&gt; discloses how various development activities in the state flouted guidelines issued by the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF), Expert Committee on glaciers and various other agencies.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align:justify&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The state of Uttarakhand did not follow the directions given by the MoEF regarding safe disposal of muck generated from excavation during the course of construction activities, points out &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot; title=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot;&gt;the report&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Unsafe and unscientific disposal of debris originating from excavations and other developmental activities increased the risks of landslides. Excavated debris, disposed of along the hill slopes, often slid down the slopes, thus, overrunning the agricultural fields and water resources, apart from causing significant loss of vegetation cover on vulnerable hill slopes. When such debris reached river bed and reservoirs, it caused the problem of aggradations and reduced reservoir capacity.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot; title=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot;&gt;CAG report&lt;/a&gt; finds that regulations for slope stabilisation, disposal of debris and river side aggradation were not in place to take care of the environmental issues as envisaged in the MoEF guidelines.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;No control was exercised over riverside constructions. Town-planning and building by-laws were not enforced properly. As a consequence, riverside constructions sustained most damage during the floods of June 2013, finds the &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot; title=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot;&gt;CAG report&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;There was no policy in place to regulate the use of explosives for infrastructure development works in the fragile Himalayan terrain. The state government of Uttarakhand paid little or no attention to the recommendations made by the Disaster Mitigation and Management Centre (DMMC), which asked for banning the use of explosives for infrastructure development in the fragile Himalayan terrain since such explosions led to instability in the surrounding rock strata, says the &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot; title=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot;&gt;CAG report&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot; title=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot;&gt;CAG report&lt;/a&gt; also throws light on the unpreparedness of the State Disaster Management Authority (SDMA) that aggravated the implications of the disaster, namely cloudburst followed by flash floods and landslides, which impacted Uttarakhand during the 3rd week of June, 2013. &amp;nbsp;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot; title=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot;&gt;CAG report&lt;/a&gt; states that the SDMA did not initiate the remedial measures as suggested by the Expert Committee on Glaciers and the DMMC prior to the June 2013 disaster taking into consideration the climatic changes and incidents of landslides that were occurring time and again in the state.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The state government of Uttarakhand had no State Disaster Management policy and guidelines prior to June 2013 disaster for the purpose of measures required for preventing and mitigating disaster and for providing relief to disaster affected persons. The SDMA was virtually non-functional since its inception and it had no State Disaster Management Plan before the disaster struck in June 2013. The Standard Operating Procedures were entirely absent, says the &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot; title=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot;&gt;CAG report&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Despite the occurrence of two major landslides in Uttarkashi and Rudraprayag districts due to unprecedented rainfall in 2012, the state government failed to take into account the underlying risk factors and undertake any corrective measures at any stage subsequently.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot; title=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot;&gt;CAG report&lt;/a&gt; mentions that river bed clearance and construction of embankments were undertaken during September-November 2013, although those works were promised to be finished much earlier following the disasters of 2010 and 2012.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Following the June 2013 disaster, it has been found by &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot; title=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot;&gt;the CAG report&lt;/a&gt; that Emergency Operation Centres both at the state and district levels were running without adequate manpower, equipment and essential communication networks. Following the floods, the District Disaster Management Authorities (DDMA) could not activate the command system to conduct search, rescue and carry out relief operations.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The State machinery and the district administration could not respond effectively due to poor weather and lack of preparedness after the disaster. The helipads were unavailable for smooth operation of air evacuation. Necessary search and rescue equipments like emergency lights, inflatable lights, solar lights, gas cutters, wood cutters etc. were unavailable in the District Emergency Operation Centres of the affected districts i.e. Bageshwar, Chamoli, Pithoragarh, Rudraprayag and Uttarkashi.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The rescue operation was hampered by non-availability of sound communication network. Coordination among various line departments was lacking. There was dearth of uniformity in authentication of losses and disbursement of relief. In the absence of grievance redressal mechanism, most complaints pertaining to financial relief could not be attended to.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The state government was unable to restore essential services like electricity, water and road connectivity on a permanent basis in the affected areas within prescribed time limits. Assessment of damages to infrastructure caused by floods was not undertaken properly, says the &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot; title=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot;&gt;CAG report&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The report has noted that non-identification of safe relief campsites put the lives of the affected people at risk. The state government did not have any mechanism in place to register the Char-Dham pilgrims who were trapped in the floods.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;It is worth noting that the performance audit was carried out by the CAG of India from September, 2014 to February, 2015 so as to assess the Government&amp;#39;s efforts in conducting rescue and relief operations, providing relief, restoring damaged infrastructure and rehabilitating affected people. It was tabled at the State Legislature Assembly of Uttarakhand on 3 November, 2015. The &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot; title=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot;&gt;CAG report&lt;/a&gt; has found that 4,209 human lives were lost and 19,309 houses were destroyed in the Uttarakhand flash floods and landslides during June, 2013. The disaster also killed 17,838 livestocks in the state.&lt;br /&gt;&amp;emsp;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;References:&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Report No. - 2 of 2015 Government of Uttarakhand - Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India on Performance Audit of Natural Disaster in Uttarakhand June 2013, please &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot; title=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot;&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt; to access&lt;br /&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;br /&gt;CAG pulls up Uttarakhand govt. over deluge, The Hindu, 7 November, 2015, please &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/other-states/cag-pulls-up-uttarakhand-govt-over-deluge/article7852955.ece&quot; title=&quot;http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/other-states/cag-pulls-up-uttarakhand-govt-over-deluge/article7852955.ece&quot;&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt; to access&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;CAG report slams Uttarakhand govt -Nikita Mehta, Livemint.com, 6 November, 2015, please &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livemint.com/Politics/F94DyJe65ya152ypFp15gO/CAG-report-slams-Uttarakhand-govt.html&quot; title=&quot;http://www.livemint.com/Politics/F94DyJe65ya152ypFp15gO/CAG-report-slams-Uttarakhand-govt.html&quot;&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt; to access&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Uttarakhand government&amp;#39;s slow response aggravated Kedar disaster, says CAG report -Gaurav Talwar, The Times of India, 4 November, 2015, please &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/latest-news-updates/uttarakhand-government039s-slow-response-aggravated-kedar-disaster-says-cag-report-gaurav-talwar-4677718.html&quot; title=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/latest-news-updates/uttarakhand-government039s-slow-response-aggravated-kedar-disaster-says-cag-report-gaurav-talwar-4677718.html&quot;&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt; to access&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align:justify&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align:justify&quot;&gt;When expedience trumps expertise-Ramachandra Guha, The Hindu, 11 July, 2013, please &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/when-expedience-trumps-expertise/article4902463.ece?homepage=true&quot; title=&quot;http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/when-expedience-trumps-expertise/article4902463.ece?homepage=true&quot;&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt; to access&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Dams and disasters in the Himalayas -Anirudh Burman, Live Mint, 9 July, 2013, please &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livemint.com/Opinion/tVqPyY4BOllrOMAWDqbRZN/Dams-and-disasters-in-Himalayas.html&quot; title=&quot;http://www.livemint.com/Opinion/tVqPyY4BOllrOMAWDqbRZN/Dams-and-disasters-in-Himalayas.html&quot;&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt; to access&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Blame game continues over Uttarakhand forecast -Kavita Upadhyay, The Hindu, 30 June, 2013, please &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/blame-game-continues-over-uttarakhand-forecast/article4866103.ece?homepage=true&quot; title=&quot;http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/blame-game-continues-over-uttarakhand-forecast/article4866103.ece?homepage=true&quot;&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt; to access&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Watershed moment -Himanshu Upadhyaya, Timescrest.com, 29 June, 2013, please &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.timescrest.com/coverstory/watershed-moment-10601&quot; title=&quot;http://www.timescrest.com/coverstory/watershed-moment-10601&quot;&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt; to access&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;CAG had warned last year about Uttarakhand crisis in making-Himanshu Upadhyaya, Governance Now, 27 June, 2013, please &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.governancenow.com/news/regular-story/cag-had-warned-last-year-about-uttarakhand-crisis-making&quot; title=&quot;http://www.governancenow.com/news/regular-story/cag-had-warned-last-year-about-uttarakhand-crisis-making&quot;&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt; to access&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Uttarakhand disaster plan doesn&amp;#39;t exist, CAG warned in April -Subodh Varma, The Times of India, 21 June, 2013, please &lt;a href=&quot;http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Uttarakhand-disaster-plan-doesnt-exist-CAG-warned-in-April/articleshow/20690268.cms&quot; title=&quot;http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Uttarakhand-disaster-plan-doesnt-exist-CAG-warned-in-April/articleshow/20690268.cms&quot;&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt; to access &amp;nbsp;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;CAG had warned three years ago about damage to hills -Pradeep Thakur, The Times of India, 20 June, 2013, please &lt;a href=&quot;http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/CAG-had-warned-three-years-ago-about-damage-to-hills/articleshow/20674521.cms&quot; title=&quot;http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/CAG-had-warned-three-years-ago-about-damage-to-hills/articleshow/20674521.cms&quot;&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt; to access&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Report no.-5 of 2013-Union Government (Ministry of Home Affairs) - Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India on performance Audit of Disaster Preparedness in India, please &lt;a href=&quot;http://saiindia.gov.in/english/home/Our_Products/Audit_Report/Government_Wise/union_audit/recent_reports/union_performance/2013/Civil/Report_5/Report_5.html&quot; title=&quot;http://saiindia.gov.in/english/home/Our_Products/Audit_Report/Government_Wise/union_audit/recent_reports/union_performance/2013/Civil/Report_5/Report_5.html&quot;&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt; to access&lt;br /&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Image Courtesy: Wikimedia Commons&lt;/strong&gt;, please &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kedarnath_Temple#/media/File:Kedarnath_Temple.jpg&quot; title=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kedarnath_Temple#/media/File:Kedarnath_Temple.jpg&quot;&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt; to access&lt;/div&gt;&#039;,
	&#039;lang&#039; =&gt; &#039;English&#039;,
	&#039;SITE_URL&#039; =&gt; &#039;https://im4change.in/&#039;,
	&#039;site_title&#039; =&gt; &#039;im4change&#039;,
	&#039;adminprix&#039; =&gt; &#039;admin&#039;
]
$article_current = object(App\Model\Entity\Article) {

	&#039;id&#039; =&gt; (int) 29777,
	&#039;title&#039; =&gt; &#039;Scale of 2013 Uttarakhand disaster could have been lessened, says CAG report&#039;,
	&#039;subheading&#039; =&gt; &#039;&#039;,
	&#039;description&#039; =&gt; &#039;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align:justify&quot;&gt;As Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh fight the fury of flood caused by annual northeast monsoon, a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) on the natural disaster in Uttarakhand, which took place in June 2013, has been made available in the&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.saiindia.gov.in/english/home/Our_Products/Audit_Report/Government_Wise/state_audit/recent_reports/Uttarakhand/2015/Report_2/2standAlone.html&quot;&gt;public domain&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;recently. The &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot;&gt;CAG report&lt;/a&gt; discloses how various development activities in the state flouted guidelines issued by the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF), Expert Committee on glaciers and various other agencies.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/div&gt;

&lt;div style=&quot;text-align:justify&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
The state of Uttarakhand did not follow the directions given by the MoEF regarding safe disposal of muck generated from excavation during the course of construction activities, points out &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot;&gt;the report&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Unsafe and unscientific disposal of debris originating from excavations and other developmental activities increased the risks of landslides. Excavated debris, disposed of along the hill slopes, often slid down the slopes, thus, overrunning the agricultural fields and water resources, apart from causing significant loss of vegetation cover on vulnerable hill slopes. When such debris reached river bed and reservoirs, it caused the problem of aggradations and reduced reservoir capacity.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
The &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot;&gt;CAG report&lt;/a&gt; finds that regulations for slope stabilisation, disposal of debris and river side aggradation were not in place to take care of the environmental issues as envisaged in the MoEF guidelines.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
No control was exercised over riverside constructions. Town-planning and building by-laws were not enforced properly. As a consequence, riverside constructions sustained most damage during the floods of June 2013, finds the &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot;&gt;CAG report&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
There was no policy in place to regulate the use of explosives for infrastructure development works in the fragile Himalayan terrain. The state government of Uttarakhand paid little or no attention to the recommendations made by the Disaster Mitigation and Management Centre (DMMC), which asked for banning the use of explosives for infrastructure development in the fragile Himalayan terrain since such explosions led to instability in the surrounding rock strata, says the &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot;&gt;CAG report&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
The &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot;&gt;CAG report&lt;/a&gt; also throws light on the unpreparedness of the State Disaster Management Authority (SDMA) that aggravated the implications of the disaster, namely cloudburst followed by flash floods and landslides, which impacted Uttarakhand during the 3rd week of June, 2013. &amp;nbsp;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
The &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot;&gt;CAG report&lt;/a&gt; states that the SDMA did not initiate the remedial measures as suggested by the Expert Committee on Glaciers and the DMMC prior to the June 2013 disaster taking into consideration the climatic changes and incidents of landslides that were occurring time and again in the state.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
The state government of Uttarakhand had no State Disaster Management policy and guidelines prior to June 2013 disaster for the purpose of measures required for preventing and mitigating disaster and for providing relief to disaster affected persons. The SDMA was virtually non-functional since its inception and it had no State Disaster Management Plan before the disaster struck in June 2013. The Standard Operating Procedures were entirely absent, says the &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot;&gt;CAG report&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Despite the occurrence of two major landslides in Uttarkashi and Rudraprayag districts due to unprecedented rainfall in 2012, the state government failed to take into account the underlying risk factors and undertake any corrective measures at any stage subsequently.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
The &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot;&gt;CAG report&lt;/a&gt; mentions that river bed clearance and construction of embankments were undertaken during September-November 2013, although those works were promised to be finished much earlier following the disasters of 2010 and 2012.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Following the June 2013 disaster, it has been found by &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot;&gt;the CAG report&lt;/a&gt; that Emergency Operation Centres both at the state and district levels were running without adequate manpower, equipment and essential communication networks. Following the floods, the District Disaster Management Authorities (DDMA) could not activate the command system to conduct search, rescue and carry out relief operations.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
The State machinery and the district administration could not respond effectively due to poor weather and lack of preparedness after the disaster. The helipads were unavailable for smooth operation of air evacuation. Necessary search and rescue equipments like emergency lights, inflatable lights, solar lights, gas cutters, wood cutters etc. were unavailable in the District Emergency Operation Centres of the affected districts i.e. Bageshwar, Chamoli, Pithoragarh, Rudraprayag and Uttarkashi.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
The rescue operation was hampered by non-availability of sound communication network. Coordination among various line departments was lacking. There was dearth of uniformity in authentication of losses and disbursement of relief. In the absence of grievance redressal mechanism, most complaints pertaining to financial relief could not be attended to.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
The state government was unable to restore essential services like electricity, water and road connectivity on a permanent basis in the affected areas within prescribed time limits. Assessment of damages to infrastructure caused by floods was not undertaken properly, says the &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot;&gt;CAG report&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
The report has noted that non-identification of safe relief campsites put the lives of the affected people at risk. The state government did not have any mechanism in place to register the Char-Dham pilgrims who were trapped in the floods.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
It is worth noting that the performance audit was carried out by the CAG of India from September, 2014 to February, 2015 so as to assess the Government&amp;#39;s efforts in conducting rescue and relief operations, providing relief, restoring damaged infrastructure and rehabilitating affected people. It was tabled at the State Legislature Assembly of Uttarakhand on 3 November, 2015. The &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot;&gt;CAG report&lt;/a&gt; has found that 4,209 human lives were lost and 19,309 houses were destroyed in the Uttarakhand flash floods and landslides during June, 2013. The disaster also killed 17,838 livestocks in the state.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;emsp;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;References:&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Report No. - 2 of 2015 Government of Uttarakhand - Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India on Performance Audit of Natural Disaster in Uttarakhand June 2013, please &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot;&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt; to access&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;nbsp;&lt;br /&gt;
CAG pulls up Uttarakhand govt. over deluge, The Hindu, 7 November, 2015, please &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/other-states/cag-pulls-up-uttarakhand-govt-over-deluge/article7852955.ece&quot;&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt; to access&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
CAG report slams Uttarakhand govt -Nikita Mehta, Livemint.com, 6 November, 2015, please &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livemint.com/Politics/F94DyJe65ya152ypFp15gO/CAG-report-slams-Uttarakhand-govt.html&quot;&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt; to access&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Uttarakhand government&amp;#39;s slow response aggravated Kedar disaster, says CAG report -Gaurav Talwar, The Times of India, 4 November, 2015, please &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/latest-news-updates/uttarakhand-government039s-slow-response-aggravated-kedar-disaster-says-cag-report-gaurav-talwar-4677718.html&quot;&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt; to access&lt;/div&gt;

&lt;div style=&quot;text-align:justify&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/div&gt;

&lt;div style=&quot;text-align:justify&quot;&gt;When expedience trumps expertise-Ramachandra Guha, The Hindu, 11 July, 2013, please &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/when-expedience-trumps-expertise/article4902463.ece?homepage=true&quot;&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt; to access&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Dams and disasters in the Himalayas -Anirudh Burman, Live Mint, 9 July, 2013, please &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livemint.com/Opinion/tVqPyY4BOllrOMAWDqbRZN/Dams-and-disasters-in-Himalayas.html&quot;&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt; to access&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Blame game continues over Uttarakhand forecast -Kavita Upadhyay, The Hindu, 30 June, 2013, please &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/blame-game-continues-over-uttarakhand-forecast/article4866103.ece?homepage=true&quot;&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt; to access&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Watershed moment -Himanshu Upadhyaya, Timescrest.com, 29 June, 2013, please &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.timescrest.com/coverstory/watershed-moment-10601&quot;&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt; to access&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
CAG had warned last year about Uttarakhand crisis in making-Himanshu Upadhyaya, Governance Now, 27 June, 2013, please &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.governancenow.com/news/regular-story/cag-had-warned-last-year-about-uttarakhand-crisis-making&quot;&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt; to access&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Uttarakhand disaster plan doesn&amp;#39;t exist, CAG warned in April -Subodh Varma, The Times of India, 21 June, 2013, please &lt;a href=&quot;http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Uttarakhand-disaster-plan-doesnt-exist-CAG-warned-in-April/articleshow/20690268.cms&quot;&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt; to access &amp;nbsp;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
CAG had warned three years ago about damage to hills -Pradeep Thakur, The Times of India, 20 June, 2013, please &lt;a href=&quot;http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/CAG-had-warned-three-years-ago-about-damage-to-hills/articleshow/20674521.cms&quot;&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt; to access&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Report no.-5 of 2013-Union Government (Ministry of Home Affairs) - Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India on performance Audit of Disaster Preparedness in India, please &lt;a href=&quot;http://saiindia.gov.in/english/home/Our_Products/Audit_Report/Government_Wise/union_audit/recent_reports/union_performance/2013/Civil/Report_5/Report_5.html&quot;&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt; to access&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;strong&gt;Image Courtesy: Wikimedia Commons&lt;/strong&gt;, please &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kedarnath_Temple#/media/File:Kedarnath_Temple.jpg&quot;&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt; to access&lt;/div&gt;
&#039;,
	&#039;credit_writer&#039; =&gt; &#039;&#039;,
	&#039;article_img&#039; =&gt; &#039;im4change_75uttarakhand.jpg&#039;,
	&#039;article_img_thumb&#039; =&gt; &#039;im4change_75uttarakhand.jpg&#039;,
	&#039;status&#039; =&gt; (int) 1,
	&#039;show_on_home&#039; =&gt; (int) 1,
	&#039;lang&#039; =&gt; &#039;EN&#039;,
	&#039;category_id&#039; =&gt; (int) 4,
	&#039;tag_keyword&#039; =&gt; &#039;&#039;,
	&#039;seo_url&#039; =&gt; &#039;scale-of-2013-uttarakhand-disaster-could-have-been-lessened-says-cag-report-4677834&#039;,
	&#039;meta_title&#039; =&gt; &#039;&#039;,
	&#039;meta_keywords&#039; =&gt; &#039;&#039;,
	&#039;meta_description&#039; =&gt; &#039;&#039;,
	&#039;noindex&#039; =&gt; (int) 0,
	&#039;publish_date&#039; =&gt; object(Cake\I18n\FrozenDate) {},
	&#039;most_visit_section_id&#039; =&gt; null,
	&#039;article_big_img&#039; =&gt; null,
	&#039;liveid&#039; =&gt; (int) 4677834,
	&#039;created&#039; =&gt; object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
	&#039;modified&#039; =&gt; object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
	&#039;edate&#039; =&gt; &#039;&#039;,
	&#039;tags&#039; =&gt; [
		(int) 0 =&gt; object(Cake\ORM\Entity) {},
		(int) 1 =&gt; object(Cake\ORM\Entity) {},
		(int) 2 =&gt; object(Cake\ORM\Entity) {},
		(int) 3 =&gt; object(Cake\ORM\Entity) {},
		(int) 4 =&gt; object(Cake\ORM\Entity) {}
	],
	&#039;category&#039; =&gt; object(App\Model\Entity\Category) {},
	&#039;[new]&#039; =&gt; false,
	&#039;[accessible]&#039; =&gt; [
		&#039;*&#039; =&gt; true,
		&#039;id&#039; =&gt; false
	],
	&#039;[dirty]&#039; =&gt; [],
	&#039;[original]&#039; =&gt; [],
	&#039;[virtual]&#039; =&gt; [],
	&#039;[hasErrors]&#039; =&gt; false,
	&#039;[errors]&#039; =&gt; [],
	&#039;[invalid]&#039; =&gt; [],
	&#039;[repository]&#039; =&gt; &#039;Articles&#039;

}
$articleid = (int) 29777
$metaTitle = &#039;NEWS ALERTS | Scale of 2013 Uttarakhand disaster could have been lessened, says CAG report&#039;
$metaKeywords = &#039;flash flood,flash floods,flood,Landslides,uttarakhand&#039;
$metaDesc = &#039;As Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh fight the fury of flood caused by annual northeast monsoon, a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) on the natural disaster in Uttarakhand, which took place in June 2013, has been made...&#039;
$disp = &#039;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align:justify&quot;&gt;As Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh fight the fury of flood caused by annual northeast monsoon, a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) on the natural disaster in Uttarakhand, which took place in June 2013, has been made available in the&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.saiindia.gov.in/english/home/Our_Products/Audit_Report/Government_Wise/state_audit/recent_reports/Uttarakhand/2015/Report_2/2standAlone.html&quot; title=&quot;http://www.saiindia.gov.in/english/home/Our_Products/Audit_Report/Government_Wise/state_audit/recent_reports/Uttarakhand/2015/Report_2/2standAlone.html&quot;&gt;public domain&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;recently. The &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot; title=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot;&gt;CAG report&lt;/a&gt; discloses how various development activities in the state flouted guidelines issued by the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF), Expert Committee on glaciers and various other agencies.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align:justify&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The state of Uttarakhand did not follow the directions given by the MoEF regarding safe disposal of muck generated from excavation during the course of construction activities, points out &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot; title=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot;&gt;the report&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Unsafe and unscientific disposal of debris originating from excavations and other developmental activities increased the risks of landslides. Excavated debris, disposed of along the hill slopes, often slid down the slopes, thus, overrunning the agricultural fields and water resources, apart from causing significant loss of vegetation cover on vulnerable hill slopes. When such debris reached river bed and reservoirs, it caused the problem of aggradations and reduced reservoir capacity.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot; title=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot;&gt;CAG report&lt;/a&gt; finds that regulations for slope stabilisation, disposal of debris and river side aggradation were not in place to take care of the environmental issues as envisaged in the MoEF guidelines.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;No control was exercised over riverside constructions. Town-planning and building by-laws were not enforced properly. As a consequence, riverside constructions sustained most damage during the floods of June 2013, finds the &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot; title=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot;&gt;CAG report&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;There was no policy in place to regulate the use of explosives for infrastructure development works in the fragile Himalayan terrain. The state government of Uttarakhand paid little or no attention to the recommendations made by the Disaster Mitigation and Management Centre (DMMC), which asked for banning the use of explosives for infrastructure development in the fragile Himalayan terrain since such explosions led to instability in the surrounding rock strata, says the &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot; title=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot;&gt;CAG report&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot; title=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot;&gt;CAG report&lt;/a&gt; also throws light on the unpreparedness of the State Disaster Management Authority (SDMA) that aggravated the implications of the disaster, namely cloudburst followed by flash floods and landslides, which impacted Uttarakhand during the 3rd week of June, 2013. &amp;nbsp;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot; title=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot;&gt;CAG report&lt;/a&gt; states that the SDMA did not initiate the remedial measures as suggested by the Expert Committee on Glaciers and the DMMC prior to the June 2013 disaster taking into consideration the climatic changes and incidents of landslides that were occurring time and again in the state.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The state government of Uttarakhand had no State Disaster Management policy and guidelines prior to June 2013 disaster for the purpose of measures required for preventing and mitigating disaster and for providing relief to disaster affected persons. The SDMA was virtually non-functional since its inception and it had no State Disaster Management Plan before the disaster struck in June 2013. The Standard Operating Procedures were entirely absent, says the &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot; title=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot;&gt;CAG report&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Despite the occurrence of two major landslides in Uttarkashi and Rudraprayag districts due to unprecedented rainfall in 2012, the state government failed to take into account the underlying risk factors and undertake any corrective measures at any stage subsequently.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot; title=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot;&gt;CAG report&lt;/a&gt; mentions that river bed clearance and construction of embankments were undertaken during September-November 2013, although those works were promised to be finished much earlier following the disasters of 2010 and 2012.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Following the June 2013 disaster, it has been found by &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot; title=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot;&gt;the CAG report&lt;/a&gt; that Emergency Operation Centres both at the state and district levels were running without adequate manpower, equipment and essential communication networks. Following the floods, the District Disaster Management Authorities (DDMA) could not activate the command system to conduct search, rescue and carry out relief operations.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The State machinery and the district administration could not respond effectively due to poor weather and lack of preparedness after the disaster. The helipads were unavailable for smooth operation of air evacuation. Necessary search and rescue equipments like emergency lights, inflatable lights, solar lights, gas cutters, wood cutters etc. were unavailable in the District Emergency Operation Centres of the affected districts i.e. Bageshwar, Chamoli, Pithoragarh, Rudraprayag and Uttarkashi.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The rescue operation was hampered by non-availability of sound communication network. Coordination among various line departments was lacking. There was dearth of uniformity in authentication of losses and disbursement of relief. In the absence of grievance redressal mechanism, most complaints pertaining to financial relief could not be attended to.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The state government was unable to restore essential services like electricity, water and road connectivity on a permanent basis in the affected areas within prescribed time limits. Assessment of damages to infrastructure caused by floods was not undertaken properly, says the &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot; title=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot;&gt;CAG report&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The report has noted that non-identification of safe relief campsites put the lives of the affected people at risk. The state government did not have any mechanism in place to register the Char-Dham pilgrims who were trapped in the floods.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;It is worth noting that the performance audit was carried out by the CAG of India from September, 2014 to February, 2015 so as to assess the Government&amp;#39;s efforts in conducting rescue and relief operations, providing relief, restoring damaged infrastructure and rehabilitating affected people. It was tabled at the State Legislature Assembly of Uttarakhand on 3 November, 2015. The &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot; title=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot;&gt;CAG report&lt;/a&gt; has found that 4,209 human lives were lost and 19,309 houses were destroyed in the Uttarakhand flash floods and landslides during June, 2013. The disaster also killed 17,838 livestocks in the state.&lt;br /&gt;&amp;emsp;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;References:&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Report No. - 2 of 2015 Government of Uttarakhand - Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India on Performance Audit of Natural Disaster in Uttarakhand June 2013, please &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot; title=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot;&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt; to access&lt;br /&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;br /&gt;CAG pulls up Uttarakhand govt. over deluge, The Hindu, 7 November, 2015, please &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/other-states/cag-pulls-up-uttarakhand-govt-over-deluge/article7852955.ece&quot; title=&quot;http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/other-states/cag-pulls-up-uttarakhand-govt-over-deluge/article7852955.ece&quot;&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt; to access&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;CAG report slams Uttarakhand govt -Nikita Mehta, Livemint.com, 6 November, 2015, please &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livemint.com/Politics/F94DyJe65ya152ypFp15gO/CAG-report-slams-Uttarakhand-govt.html&quot; title=&quot;http://www.livemint.com/Politics/F94DyJe65ya152ypFp15gO/CAG-report-slams-Uttarakhand-govt.html&quot;&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt; to access&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Uttarakhand government&amp;#39;s slow response aggravated Kedar disaster, says CAG report -Gaurav Talwar, The Times of India, 4 November, 2015, please &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/latest-news-updates/uttarakhand-government039s-slow-response-aggravated-kedar-disaster-says-cag-report-gaurav-talwar-4677718.html&quot; title=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/latest-news-updates/uttarakhand-government039s-slow-response-aggravated-kedar-disaster-says-cag-report-gaurav-talwar-4677718.html&quot;&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt; to access&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align:justify&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align:justify&quot;&gt;When expedience trumps expertise-Ramachandra Guha, The Hindu, 11 July, 2013, please &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/when-expedience-trumps-expertise/article4902463.ece?homepage=true&quot; title=&quot;http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/when-expedience-trumps-expertise/article4902463.ece?homepage=true&quot;&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt; to access&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Dams and disasters in the Himalayas -Anirudh Burman, Live Mint, 9 July, 2013, please &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livemint.com/Opinion/tVqPyY4BOllrOMAWDqbRZN/Dams-and-disasters-in-Himalayas.html&quot; title=&quot;http://www.livemint.com/Opinion/tVqPyY4BOllrOMAWDqbRZN/Dams-and-disasters-in-Himalayas.html&quot;&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt; to access&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Blame game continues over Uttarakhand forecast -Kavita Upadhyay, The Hindu, 30 June, 2013, please &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/blame-game-continues-over-uttarakhand-forecast/article4866103.ece?homepage=true&quot; title=&quot;http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/blame-game-continues-over-uttarakhand-forecast/article4866103.ece?homepage=true&quot;&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt; to access&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Watershed moment -Himanshu Upadhyaya, Timescrest.com, 29 June, 2013, please &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.timescrest.com/coverstory/watershed-moment-10601&quot; title=&quot;http://www.timescrest.com/coverstory/watershed-moment-10601&quot;&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt; to access&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;CAG had warned last year about Uttarakhand crisis in making-Himanshu Upadhyaya, Governance Now, 27 June, 2013, please &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.governancenow.com/news/regular-story/cag-had-warned-last-year-about-uttarakhand-crisis-making&quot; title=&quot;http://www.governancenow.com/news/regular-story/cag-had-warned-last-year-about-uttarakhand-crisis-making&quot;&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt; to access&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Uttarakhand disaster plan doesn&amp;#39;t exist, CAG warned in April -Subodh Varma, The Times of India, 21 June, 2013, please &lt;a href=&quot;http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Uttarakhand-disaster-plan-doesnt-exist-CAG-warned-in-April/articleshow/20690268.cms&quot; title=&quot;http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Uttarakhand-disaster-plan-doesnt-exist-CAG-warned-in-April/articleshow/20690268.cms&quot;&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt; to access &amp;nbsp;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;CAG had warned three years ago about damage to hills -Pradeep Thakur, The Times of India, 20 June, 2013, please &lt;a href=&quot;http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/CAG-had-warned-three-years-ago-about-damage-to-hills/articleshow/20674521.cms&quot; title=&quot;http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/CAG-had-warned-three-years-ago-about-damage-to-hills/articleshow/20674521.cms&quot;&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt; to access&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Report no.-5 of 2013-Union Government (Ministry of Home Affairs) - Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India on performance Audit of Disaster Preparedness in India, please &lt;a href=&quot;http://saiindia.gov.in/english/home/Our_Products/Audit_Report/Government_Wise/union_audit/recent_reports/union_performance/2013/Civil/Report_5/Report_5.html&quot; title=&quot;http://saiindia.gov.in/english/home/Our_Products/Audit_Report/Government_Wise/union_audit/recent_reports/union_performance/2013/Civil/Report_5/Report_5.html&quot;&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt; to access&lt;br /&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Image Courtesy: Wikimedia Commons&lt;/strong&gt;, please &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kedarnath_Temple#/media/File:Kedarnath_Temple.jpg&quot; title=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kedarnath_Temple#/media/File:Kedarnath_Temple.jpg&quot;&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt; to access&lt;/div&gt;&#039;
$lang = &#039;English&#039;
$SITE_URL = &#039;https://im4change.in/&#039;
$site_title = &#039;im4change&#039;
$adminprix = &#039;admin&#039;</pre><pre class="stack-trace">include - APP/Template/Layout/printlayout.ctp, line 8
Cake\View\View::_evaluate() - CORE/src/View/View.php, line 1413
Cake\View\View::_render() - CORE/src/View/View.php, line 1374
Cake\View\View::renderLayout() - CORE/src/View/View.php, line 927
Cake\View\View::render() - CORE/src/View/View.php, line 885
Cake\Controller\Controller::render() - CORE/src/Controller/Controller.php, line 791
Cake\Http\ActionDispatcher::_invoke() - CORE/src/Http/ActionDispatcher.php, line 126
Cake\Http\ActionDispatcher::dispatch() - CORE/src/Http/ActionDispatcher.php, line 94
Cake\Http\BaseApplication::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/BaseApplication.php, line 235
Cake\Http\Runner::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 65
Cake\Routing\Middleware\RoutingMiddleware::__invoke() - CORE/src/Routing/Middleware/RoutingMiddleware.php, line 162
Cake\Http\Runner::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 65
Cake\Routing\Middleware\AssetMiddleware::__invoke() - CORE/src/Routing/Middleware/AssetMiddleware.php, line 88
Cake\Http\Runner::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 65
Cake\Error\Middleware\ErrorHandlerMiddleware::__invoke() - CORE/src/Error/Middleware/ErrorHandlerMiddleware.php, line 96
Cake\Http\Runner::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 65
Cake\Http\Runner::run() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 51</pre></div></pre>news-alerts-57/scale-of-2013-uttarakhand-disaster-could-have-been-lessened-says-cag-report-4677834.html"/>
    <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"/>
    <link href="https://im4change.in/css/control.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css"
          media="all"/>
    <title>NEWS ALERTS | Scale of 2013 Uttarakhand disaster could have been lessened, says CAG report | Im4change.org</title>
    <meta name="description" content="As Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh fight the fury of flood caused by annual northeast monsoon, a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) on the natural disaster in Uttarakhand, which took place in June 2013, has been made..."/>
    <script src="https://im4change.in/js/jquery-1.10.2.js"></script>
    <script type="text/javascript" src="https://im4change.in/js/jquery-migrate.min.js"></script>
    <script language="javascript" type="text/javascript">

        $(document).ready(function () {
            var img = $("img")[0]; // Get my img elem
            var pic_real_width, pic_real_height;
            $("<img/>") // Make in memory copy of image to avoid css issues
                .attr("src", $(img).attr("src"))
                .load(function () {
                    pic_real_width = this.width;   // Note: $(this).width() will not
                    pic_real_height = this.height; // work for in memory images.
                });
        });
    </script>
    <style type="text/css">
        @media screen {
            div.divFooter {
                display: block;
            }
        }

        @media print {
            .printbutton {
                display: none !important;
            }
        }
    </style>
</head>
<body>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" border="0" width="98%" align="center">
    <tr>
        <td class="top_bg">
            <div class="divFooter">
                <img src="https://im4change.in/images/logo1.jpg" height="59" border="0"
                     alt="Resource centre on India's rural distress" style="padding-top:14px;"/>
            </div>

        </td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
        <td id="topspace">&nbsp;</td>
    </tr>

    <tr id="topspace">
        <td>&nbsp;</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
        <td height="50" style="border-bottom:1px solid #000; padding-top:10px;" class="printbutton">
            <form><input type="button" value=" Print this page "
                         onclick="window.print();return false;"/></form>
        </td>
    </tr>

    <tr>
        <td width="100%">
            <h1 class="news_headlines" style="font-style:normal">
                <strong>Scale of 2013 Uttarakhand disaster could have been lessened, says CAG report</strong></h1>
        </td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
        <td width="100%" style="font-family:Arial, 'Segoe Script', 'Segoe UI', sans-serif, serif"><font size="3">
                <div style="text-align:justify">As Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh fight the fury of flood caused by annual northeast monsoon, a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) on the natural disaster in Uttarakhand, which took place in June 2013, has been made available in the&nbsp;<a href="http://www.saiindia.gov.in/english/home/Our_Products/Audit_Report/Government_Wise/state_audit/recent_reports/Uttarakhand/2015/Report_2/2standAlone.html" title="http://www.saiindia.gov.in/english/home/Our_Products/Audit_Report/Government_Wise/state_audit/recent_reports/Uttarakhand/2015/Report_2/2standAlone.html">public domain</a>&nbsp;recently. The <a href="https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf" title="https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf">CAG report</a> discloses how various development activities in the state flouted guidelines issued by the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF), Expert Committee on glaciers and various other agencies.&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align:justify"><br />The state of Uttarakhand did not follow the directions given by the MoEF regarding safe disposal of muck generated from excavation during the course of construction activities, points out <a href="https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf" title="https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf">the report</a>.<br /><br />Unsafe and unscientific disposal of debris originating from excavations and other developmental activities increased the risks of landslides. Excavated debris, disposed of along the hill slopes, often slid down the slopes, thus, overrunning the agricultural fields and water resources, apart from causing significant loss of vegetation cover on vulnerable hill slopes. When such debris reached river bed and reservoirs, it caused the problem of aggradations and reduced reservoir capacity.<br /><br />The <a href="https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf" title="https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf">CAG report</a> finds that regulations for slope stabilisation, disposal of debris and river side aggradation were not in place to take care of the environmental issues as envisaged in the MoEF guidelines.<br /><br />No control was exercised over riverside constructions. Town-planning and building by-laws were not enforced properly. As a consequence, riverside constructions sustained most damage during the floods of June 2013, finds the <a href="https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf" title="https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf">CAG report</a>.<br /><br />There was no policy in place to regulate the use of explosives for infrastructure development works in the fragile Himalayan terrain. The state government of Uttarakhand paid little or no attention to the recommendations made by the Disaster Mitigation and Management Centre (DMMC), which asked for banning the use of explosives for infrastructure development in the fragile Himalayan terrain since such explosions led to instability in the surrounding rock strata, says the <a href="https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf" title="https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf">CAG report</a>.<br /><br />The <a href="https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf" title="https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf">CAG report</a> also throws light on the unpreparedness of the State Disaster Management Authority (SDMA) that aggravated the implications of the disaster, namely cloudburst followed by flash floods and landslides, which impacted Uttarakhand during the 3rd week of June, 2013. &nbsp;<br /><br />The <a href="https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf" title="https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf">CAG report</a> states that the SDMA did not initiate the remedial measures as suggested by the Expert Committee on Glaciers and the DMMC prior to the June 2013 disaster taking into consideration the climatic changes and incidents of landslides that were occurring time and again in the state.<br /><br />The state government of Uttarakhand had no State Disaster Management policy and guidelines prior to June 2013 disaster for the purpose of measures required for preventing and mitigating disaster and for providing relief to disaster affected persons. The SDMA was virtually non-functional since its inception and it had no State Disaster Management Plan before the disaster struck in June 2013. The Standard Operating Procedures were entirely absent, says the <a href="https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf" title="https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf">CAG report</a>.<br /><br />Despite the occurrence of two major landslides in Uttarkashi and Rudraprayag districts due to unprecedented rainfall in 2012, the state government failed to take into account the underlying risk factors and undertake any corrective measures at any stage subsequently.<br /><br />The <a href="https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf" title="https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf">CAG report</a> mentions that river bed clearance and construction of embankments were undertaken during September-November 2013, although those works were promised to be finished much earlier following the disasters of 2010 and 2012.<br /><br />Following the June 2013 disaster, it has been found by <a href="https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf" title="https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf">the CAG report</a> that Emergency Operation Centres both at the state and district levels were running without adequate manpower, equipment and essential communication networks. Following the floods, the District Disaster Management Authorities (DDMA) could not activate the command system to conduct search, rescue and carry out relief operations.<br /><br />The State machinery and the district administration could not respond effectively due to poor weather and lack of preparedness after the disaster. The helipads were unavailable for smooth operation of air evacuation. Necessary search and rescue equipments like emergency lights, inflatable lights, solar lights, gas cutters, wood cutters etc. were unavailable in the District Emergency Operation Centres of the affected districts i.e. Bageshwar, Chamoli, Pithoragarh, Rudraprayag and Uttarkashi.<br /><br />The rescue operation was hampered by non-availability of sound communication network. Coordination among various line departments was lacking. There was dearth of uniformity in authentication of losses and disbursement of relief. In the absence of grievance redressal mechanism, most complaints pertaining to financial relief could not be attended to.<br /><br />The state government was unable to restore essential services like electricity, water and road connectivity on a permanent basis in the affected areas within prescribed time limits. Assessment of damages to infrastructure caused by floods was not undertaken properly, says the <a href="https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf" title="https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf">CAG report</a>.<br /><br />The report has noted that non-identification of safe relief campsites put the lives of the affected people at risk. The state government did not have any mechanism in place to register the Char-Dham pilgrims who were trapped in the floods.<br /><br />It is worth noting that the performance audit was carried out by the CAG of India from September, 2014 to February, 2015 so as to assess the Government&#39;s efforts in conducting rescue and relief operations, providing relief, restoring damaged infrastructure and rehabilitating affected people. It was tabled at the State Legislature Assembly of Uttarakhand on 3 November, 2015. The <a href="https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf" title="https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf">CAG report</a> has found that 4,209 human lives were lost and 19,309 houses were destroyed in the Uttarakhand flash floods and landslides during June, 2013. The disaster also killed 17,838 livestocks in the state.<br />&emsp;<br /><strong><em>References:</em></strong><br /><br />Report No. - 2 of 2015 Government of Uttarakhand - Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India on Performance Audit of Natural Disaster in Uttarakhand June 2013, please <a href="https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf" title="https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf">click here</a> to access<br />&nbsp;<br />CAG pulls up Uttarakhand govt. over deluge, The Hindu, 7 November, 2015, please <a href="http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/other-states/cag-pulls-up-uttarakhand-govt-over-deluge/article7852955.ece" title="http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/other-states/cag-pulls-up-uttarakhand-govt-over-deluge/article7852955.ece">click here</a> to access<br /><br />CAG report slams Uttarakhand govt -Nikita Mehta, Livemint.com, 6 November, 2015, please <a href="http://www.livemint.com/Politics/F94DyJe65ya152ypFp15gO/CAG-report-slams-Uttarakhand-govt.html" title="http://www.livemint.com/Politics/F94DyJe65ya152ypFp15gO/CAG-report-slams-Uttarakhand-govt.html">click here</a> to access<br /><br />Uttarakhand government&#39;s slow response aggravated Kedar disaster, says CAG report -Gaurav Talwar, The Times of India, 4 November, 2015, please <a href="https://www.im4change.org/latest-news-updates/uttarakhand-government039s-slow-response-aggravated-kedar-disaster-says-cag-report-gaurav-talwar-4677718.html" title="https://www.im4change.org/latest-news-updates/uttarakhand-government039s-slow-response-aggravated-kedar-disaster-says-cag-report-gaurav-talwar-4677718.html">click here</a> to access</div><div style="text-align:justify">&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align:justify">When expedience trumps expertise-Ramachandra Guha, The Hindu, 11 July, 2013, please <a href="http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/when-expedience-trumps-expertise/article4902463.ece?homepage=true" title="http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/when-expedience-trumps-expertise/article4902463.ece?homepage=true">click here</a> to access<br /><br />Dams and disasters in the Himalayas -Anirudh Burman, Live Mint, 9 July, 2013, please <a href="http://www.livemint.com/Opinion/tVqPyY4BOllrOMAWDqbRZN/Dams-and-disasters-in-Himalayas.html" title="http://www.livemint.com/Opinion/tVqPyY4BOllrOMAWDqbRZN/Dams-and-disasters-in-Himalayas.html">click here</a> to access<br /><br />Blame game continues over Uttarakhand forecast -Kavita Upadhyay, The Hindu, 30 June, 2013, please <a href="http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/blame-game-continues-over-uttarakhand-forecast/article4866103.ece?homepage=true" title="http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/blame-game-continues-over-uttarakhand-forecast/article4866103.ece?homepage=true">click here</a> to access<br /><br />Watershed moment -Himanshu Upadhyaya, Timescrest.com, 29 June, 2013, please <a href="http://www.timescrest.com/coverstory/watershed-moment-10601" title="http://www.timescrest.com/coverstory/watershed-moment-10601">click here</a> to access<br /><br />CAG had warned last year about Uttarakhand crisis in making-Himanshu Upadhyaya, Governance Now, 27 June, 2013, please <a href="http://www.governancenow.com/news/regular-story/cag-had-warned-last-year-about-uttarakhand-crisis-making" title="http://www.governancenow.com/news/regular-story/cag-had-warned-last-year-about-uttarakhand-crisis-making">click here</a> to access<br /><br />Uttarakhand disaster plan doesn&#39;t exist, CAG warned in April -Subodh Varma, The Times of India, 21 June, 2013, please <a href="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Uttarakhand-disaster-plan-doesnt-exist-CAG-warned-in-April/articleshow/20690268.cms" title="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Uttarakhand-disaster-plan-doesnt-exist-CAG-warned-in-April/articleshow/20690268.cms">click here</a> to access &nbsp;<br /><br />CAG had warned three years ago about damage to hills -Pradeep Thakur, The Times of India, 20 June, 2013, please <a href="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/CAG-had-warned-three-years-ago-about-damage-to-hills/articleshow/20674521.cms" title="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/CAG-had-warned-three-years-ago-about-damage-to-hills/articleshow/20674521.cms">click here</a> to access<br /><br />Report no.-5 of 2013-Union Government (Ministry of Home Affairs) - Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India on performance Audit of Disaster Preparedness in India, please <a href="http://saiindia.gov.in/english/home/Our_Products/Audit_Report/Government_Wise/union_audit/recent_reports/union_performance/2013/Civil/Report_5/Report_5.html" title="http://saiindia.gov.in/english/home/Our_Products/Audit_Report/Government_Wise/union_audit/recent_reports/union_performance/2013/Civil/Report_5/Report_5.html">click here</a> to access<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<br /><strong>Image Courtesy: Wikimedia Commons</strong>, please <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kedarnath_Temple#/media/File:Kedarnath_Temple.jpg" title="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kedarnath_Temple#/media/File:Kedarnath_Temple.jpg">click here</a> to access</div>               </font>
        </td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
        <td>&nbsp;</td>
    </tr>

    <tr>
        <td height="50" style="border-top:1px solid #000; border-bottom:1px solid #000;padding-top:10px;">
            <form><input type="button" value=" Print this page "
                         onclick="window.print();return false;"/></form>
        </td>
    </tr>
</table></body>
</html>'

}
$maxBufferLength = (int) 8192
$file = '/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php'
$line = (int) 853
$message = 'Unable to emit headers. Headers sent in file=/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php line=853'
Cake\Http\ResponseEmitter::emit() - CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 48
Cake\Http\Server::emit() - CORE/src/Http/Server.php, line 141
[main] - ROOT/webroot/index.php, line 39

Warning (2): Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php:853) [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 148]
Code Context
            $response->getStatusCode(),

            ($reasonPhrase ? ' ' . $reasonPhrase : '')

        ));
$response = object(Cake\Http\Response) {

	'status' => (int) 200,
	'contentType' => 'text/html',
	'headers' => [
		'Content-Type' => [
			[maximum depth reached]
		]
	],
	'file' => null,
	'fileRange' => [],
	'cookies' => object(Cake\Http\Cookie\CookieCollection) {},
	'cacheDirectives' => [],
	'body' => '<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN"
        "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
<head>
    <link rel="canonical" href="https://im4change.in/<pre class="cake-error"><a href="javascript:void(0);" onclick="document.getElementById('cakeErr67f7f06c3fe10-trace').style.display = (document.getElementById('cakeErr67f7f06c3fe10-trace').style.display == 'none' ? '' : 'none');"><b>Notice</b> (8)</a>: Undefined variable: urlPrefix [<b>APP/Template/Layout/printlayout.ctp</b>, line <b>8</b>]<div id="cakeErr67f7f06c3fe10-trace" class="cake-stack-trace" style="display: none;"><a href="javascript:void(0);" onclick="document.getElementById('cakeErr67f7f06c3fe10-code').style.display = (document.getElementById('cakeErr67f7f06c3fe10-code').style.display == 'none' ? '' : 'none')">Code</a> <a href="javascript:void(0);" onclick="document.getElementById('cakeErr67f7f06c3fe10-context').style.display = (document.getElementById('cakeErr67f7f06c3fe10-context').style.display == 'none' ? '' : 'none')">Context</a><pre id="cakeErr67f7f06c3fe10-code" class="cake-code-dump" style="display: none;"><code><span style="color: #000000"><span style="color: #0000BB"></span><span style="color: #007700">&lt;</span><span style="color: #0000BB">head</span><span style="color: #007700">&gt;
</span></span></code>
<span class="code-highlight"><code><span style="color: #000000">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&lt;link&nbsp;rel="canonical"&nbsp;href="<span style="color: #0000BB">&lt;?php&nbsp;</span><span style="color: #007700">echo&nbsp;</span><span style="color: #0000BB">Configure</span><span style="color: #007700">::</span><span style="color: #0000BB">read</span><span style="color: #007700">(</span><span style="color: #DD0000">'SITE_URL'</span><span style="color: #007700">);&nbsp;</span><span style="color: #0000BB">?&gt;&lt;?php&nbsp;</span><span style="color: #007700">echo&nbsp;</span><span style="color: #0000BB">$urlPrefix</span><span style="color: #007700">;</span><span style="color: #0000BB">?&gt;&lt;?php&nbsp;</span><span style="color: #007700">echo&nbsp;</span><span style="color: #0000BB">$article_current</span><span style="color: #007700">-&gt;</span><span style="color: #0000BB">category</span><span style="color: #007700">-&gt;</span><span style="color: #0000BB">slug</span><span style="color: #007700">;&nbsp;</span><span style="color: #0000BB">?&gt;</span>/<span style="color: #0000BB">&lt;?php&nbsp;</span><span style="color: #007700">echo&nbsp;</span><span style="color: #0000BB">$article_current</span><span style="color: #007700">-&gt;</span><span style="color: #0000BB">seo_url</span><span style="color: #007700">;&nbsp;</span><span style="color: #0000BB">?&gt;</span>.html"/&gt;
</span></code></span>
<code><span style="color: #000000"><span style="color: #0000BB">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</span><span style="color: #007700">&lt;</span><span style="color: #0000BB">meta&nbsp;http</span><span style="color: #007700">-</span><span style="color: #0000BB">equiv</span><span style="color: #007700">=</span><span style="color: #DD0000">"Content-Type"&nbsp;</span><span style="color: #0000BB">content</span><span style="color: #007700">=</span><span style="color: #DD0000">"text/html;&nbsp;charset=utf-8"</span><span style="color: #007700">/&gt;
</span></span></code></pre><pre id="cakeErr67f7f06c3fe10-context" class="cake-context" style="display: none;">$viewFile = &#039;/home/brlfuser/public_html/src/Template/Layout/printlayout.ctp&#039;
$dataForView = [
	&#039;article_current&#039; =&gt; object(App\Model\Entity\Article) {

		&#039;id&#039; =&gt; (int) 29777,
		&#039;title&#039; =&gt; &#039;Scale of 2013 Uttarakhand disaster could have been lessened, says CAG report&#039;,
		&#039;subheading&#039; =&gt; &#039;&#039;,
		&#039;description&#039; =&gt; &#039;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align:justify&quot;&gt;As Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh fight the fury of flood caused by annual northeast monsoon, a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) on the natural disaster in Uttarakhand, which took place in June 2013, has been made available in the&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.saiindia.gov.in/english/home/Our_Products/Audit_Report/Government_Wise/state_audit/recent_reports/Uttarakhand/2015/Report_2/2standAlone.html&quot;&gt;public domain&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;recently. The &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot;&gt;CAG report&lt;/a&gt; discloses how various development activities in the state flouted guidelines issued by the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF), Expert Committee on glaciers and various other agencies.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/div&gt;

&lt;div style=&quot;text-align:justify&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
The state of Uttarakhand did not follow the directions given by the MoEF regarding safe disposal of muck generated from excavation during the course of construction activities, points out &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot;&gt;the report&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Unsafe and unscientific disposal of debris originating from excavations and other developmental activities increased the risks of landslides. Excavated debris, disposed of along the hill slopes, often slid down the slopes, thus, overrunning the agricultural fields and water resources, apart from causing significant loss of vegetation cover on vulnerable hill slopes. When such debris reached river bed and reservoirs, it caused the problem of aggradations and reduced reservoir capacity.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
The &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot;&gt;CAG report&lt;/a&gt; finds that regulations for slope stabilisation, disposal of debris and river side aggradation were not in place to take care of the environmental issues as envisaged in the MoEF guidelines.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
No control was exercised over riverside constructions. Town-planning and building by-laws were not enforced properly. As a consequence, riverside constructions sustained most damage during the floods of June 2013, finds the &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot;&gt;CAG report&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
There was no policy in place to regulate the use of explosives for infrastructure development works in the fragile Himalayan terrain. The state government of Uttarakhand paid little or no attention to the recommendations made by the Disaster Mitigation and Management Centre (DMMC), which asked for banning the use of explosives for infrastructure development in the fragile Himalayan terrain since such explosions led to instability in the surrounding rock strata, says the &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot;&gt;CAG report&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
The &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot;&gt;CAG report&lt;/a&gt; also throws light on the unpreparedness of the State Disaster Management Authority (SDMA) that aggravated the implications of the disaster, namely cloudburst followed by flash floods and landslides, which impacted Uttarakhand during the 3rd week of June, 2013. &amp;nbsp;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
The &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot;&gt;CAG report&lt;/a&gt; states that the SDMA did not initiate the remedial measures as suggested by the Expert Committee on Glaciers and the DMMC prior to the June 2013 disaster taking into consideration the climatic changes and incidents of landslides that were occurring time and again in the state.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
The state government of Uttarakhand had no State Disaster Management policy and guidelines prior to June 2013 disaster for the purpose of measures required for preventing and mitigating disaster and for providing relief to disaster affected persons. The SDMA was virtually non-functional since its inception and it had no State Disaster Management Plan before the disaster struck in June 2013. The Standard Operating Procedures were entirely absent, says the &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot;&gt;CAG report&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Despite the occurrence of two major landslides in Uttarkashi and Rudraprayag districts due to unprecedented rainfall in 2012, the state government failed to take into account the underlying risk factors and undertake any corrective measures at any stage subsequently.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
The &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot;&gt;CAG report&lt;/a&gt; mentions that river bed clearance and construction of embankments were undertaken during September-November 2013, although those works were promised to be finished much earlier following the disasters of 2010 and 2012.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Following the June 2013 disaster, it has been found by &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot;&gt;the CAG report&lt;/a&gt; that Emergency Operation Centres both at the state and district levels were running without adequate manpower, equipment and essential communication networks. Following the floods, the District Disaster Management Authorities (DDMA) could not activate the command system to conduct search, rescue and carry out relief operations.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
The State machinery and the district administration could not respond effectively due to poor weather and lack of preparedness after the disaster. The helipads were unavailable for smooth operation of air evacuation. Necessary search and rescue equipments like emergency lights, inflatable lights, solar lights, gas cutters, wood cutters etc. were unavailable in the District Emergency Operation Centres of the affected districts i.e. Bageshwar, Chamoli, Pithoragarh, Rudraprayag and Uttarkashi.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
The rescue operation was hampered by non-availability of sound communication network. Coordination among various line departments was lacking. There was dearth of uniformity in authentication of losses and disbursement of relief. In the absence of grievance redressal mechanism, most complaints pertaining to financial relief could not be attended to.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
The state government was unable to restore essential services like electricity, water and road connectivity on a permanent basis in the affected areas within prescribed time limits. Assessment of damages to infrastructure caused by floods was not undertaken properly, says the &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot;&gt;CAG report&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
The report has noted that non-identification of safe relief campsites put the lives of the affected people at risk. The state government did not have any mechanism in place to register the Char-Dham pilgrims who were trapped in the floods.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
It is worth noting that the performance audit was carried out by the CAG of India from September, 2014 to February, 2015 so as to assess the Government&amp;#39;s efforts in conducting rescue and relief operations, providing relief, restoring damaged infrastructure and rehabilitating affected people. It was tabled at the State Legislature Assembly of Uttarakhand on 3 November, 2015. The &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot;&gt;CAG report&lt;/a&gt; has found that 4,209 human lives were lost and 19,309 houses were destroyed in the Uttarakhand flash floods and landslides during June, 2013. The disaster also killed 17,838 livestocks in the state.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;emsp;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;References:&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Report No. - 2 of 2015 Government of Uttarakhand - Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India on Performance Audit of Natural Disaster in Uttarakhand June 2013, please &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot;&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt; to access&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;nbsp;&lt;br /&gt;
CAG pulls up Uttarakhand govt. over deluge, The Hindu, 7 November, 2015, please &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/other-states/cag-pulls-up-uttarakhand-govt-over-deluge/article7852955.ece&quot;&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt; to access&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
CAG report slams Uttarakhand govt -Nikita Mehta, Livemint.com, 6 November, 2015, please &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livemint.com/Politics/F94DyJe65ya152ypFp15gO/CAG-report-slams-Uttarakhand-govt.html&quot;&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt; to access&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Uttarakhand government&amp;#39;s slow response aggravated Kedar disaster, says CAG report -Gaurav Talwar, The Times of India, 4 November, 2015, please &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/latest-news-updates/uttarakhand-government039s-slow-response-aggravated-kedar-disaster-says-cag-report-gaurav-talwar-4677718.html&quot;&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt; to access&lt;/div&gt;

&lt;div style=&quot;text-align:justify&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/div&gt;

&lt;div style=&quot;text-align:justify&quot;&gt;When expedience trumps expertise-Ramachandra Guha, The Hindu, 11 July, 2013, please &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/when-expedience-trumps-expertise/article4902463.ece?homepage=true&quot;&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt; to access&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Dams and disasters in the Himalayas -Anirudh Burman, Live Mint, 9 July, 2013, please &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livemint.com/Opinion/tVqPyY4BOllrOMAWDqbRZN/Dams-and-disasters-in-Himalayas.html&quot;&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt; to access&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Blame game continues over Uttarakhand forecast -Kavita Upadhyay, The Hindu, 30 June, 2013, please &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/blame-game-continues-over-uttarakhand-forecast/article4866103.ece?homepage=true&quot;&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt; to access&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Watershed moment -Himanshu Upadhyaya, Timescrest.com, 29 June, 2013, please &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.timescrest.com/coverstory/watershed-moment-10601&quot;&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt; to access&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
CAG had warned last year about Uttarakhand crisis in making-Himanshu Upadhyaya, Governance Now, 27 June, 2013, please &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.governancenow.com/news/regular-story/cag-had-warned-last-year-about-uttarakhand-crisis-making&quot;&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt; to access&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Uttarakhand disaster plan doesn&amp;#39;t exist, CAG warned in April -Subodh Varma, The Times of India, 21 June, 2013, please &lt;a href=&quot;http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Uttarakhand-disaster-plan-doesnt-exist-CAG-warned-in-April/articleshow/20690268.cms&quot;&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt; to access &amp;nbsp;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
CAG had warned three years ago about damage to hills -Pradeep Thakur, The Times of India, 20 June, 2013, please &lt;a href=&quot;http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/CAG-had-warned-three-years-ago-about-damage-to-hills/articleshow/20674521.cms&quot;&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt; to access&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Report no.-5 of 2013-Union Government (Ministry of Home Affairs) - Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India on performance Audit of Disaster Preparedness in India, please &lt;a href=&quot;http://saiindia.gov.in/english/home/Our_Products/Audit_Report/Government_Wise/union_audit/recent_reports/union_performance/2013/Civil/Report_5/Report_5.html&quot;&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt; to access&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;strong&gt;Image Courtesy: Wikimedia Commons&lt;/strong&gt;, please &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kedarnath_Temple#/media/File:Kedarnath_Temple.jpg&quot;&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt; to access&lt;/div&gt;
&#039;,
		&#039;credit_writer&#039; =&gt; &#039;&#039;,
		&#039;article_img&#039; =&gt; &#039;im4change_75uttarakhand.jpg&#039;,
		&#039;article_img_thumb&#039; =&gt; &#039;im4change_75uttarakhand.jpg&#039;,
		&#039;status&#039; =&gt; (int) 1,
		&#039;show_on_home&#039; =&gt; (int) 1,
		&#039;lang&#039; =&gt; &#039;EN&#039;,
		&#039;category_id&#039; =&gt; (int) 4,
		&#039;tag_keyword&#039; =&gt; &#039;&#039;,
		&#039;seo_url&#039; =&gt; &#039;scale-of-2013-uttarakhand-disaster-could-have-been-lessened-says-cag-report-4677834&#039;,
		&#039;meta_title&#039; =&gt; &#039;&#039;,
		&#039;meta_keywords&#039; =&gt; &#039;&#039;,
		&#039;meta_description&#039; =&gt; &#039;&#039;,
		&#039;noindex&#039; =&gt; (int) 0,
		&#039;publish_date&#039; =&gt; object(Cake\I18n\FrozenDate) {},
		&#039;most_visit_section_id&#039; =&gt; null,
		&#039;article_big_img&#039; =&gt; null,
		&#039;liveid&#039; =&gt; (int) 4677834,
		&#039;created&#039; =&gt; object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
		&#039;modified&#039; =&gt; object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
		&#039;edate&#039; =&gt; &#039;&#039;,
		&#039;tags&#039; =&gt; [
			[maximum depth reached]
		],
		&#039;category&#039; =&gt; object(App\Model\Entity\Category) {},
		&#039;[new]&#039; =&gt; false,
		&#039;[accessible]&#039; =&gt; [
			[maximum depth reached]
		],
		&#039;[dirty]&#039; =&gt; [[maximum depth reached]],
		&#039;[original]&#039; =&gt; [[maximum depth reached]],
		&#039;[virtual]&#039; =&gt; [[maximum depth reached]],
		&#039;[hasErrors]&#039; =&gt; false,
		&#039;[errors]&#039; =&gt; [[maximum depth reached]],
		&#039;[invalid]&#039; =&gt; [[maximum depth reached]],
		&#039;[repository]&#039; =&gt; &#039;Articles&#039;
	
	},
	&#039;articleid&#039; =&gt; (int) 29777,
	&#039;metaTitle&#039; =&gt; &#039;NEWS ALERTS | Scale of 2013 Uttarakhand disaster could have been lessened, says CAG report&#039;,
	&#039;metaKeywords&#039; =&gt; &#039;flash flood,flash floods,flood,Landslides,uttarakhand&#039;,
	&#039;metaDesc&#039; =&gt; &#039;As Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh fight the fury of flood caused by annual northeast monsoon, a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) on the natural disaster in Uttarakhand, which took place in June 2013, has been made...&#039;,
	&#039;disp&#039; =&gt; &#039;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align:justify&quot;&gt;As Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh fight the fury of flood caused by annual northeast monsoon, a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) on the natural disaster in Uttarakhand, which took place in June 2013, has been made available in the&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.saiindia.gov.in/english/home/Our_Products/Audit_Report/Government_Wise/state_audit/recent_reports/Uttarakhand/2015/Report_2/2standAlone.html&quot; title=&quot;http://www.saiindia.gov.in/english/home/Our_Products/Audit_Report/Government_Wise/state_audit/recent_reports/Uttarakhand/2015/Report_2/2standAlone.html&quot;&gt;public domain&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;recently. The &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot; title=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot;&gt;CAG report&lt;/a&gt; discloses how various development activities in the state flouted guidelines issued by the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF), Expert Committee on glaciers and various other agencies.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align:justify&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The state of Uttarakhand did not follow the directions given by the MoEF regarding safe disposal of muck generated from excavation during the course of construction activities, points out &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot; title=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot;&gt;the report&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Unsafe and unscientific disposal of debris originating from excavations and other developmental activities increased the risks of landslides. Excavated debris, disposed of along the hill slopes, often slid down the slopes, thus, overrunning the agricultural fields and water resources, apart from causing significant loss of vegetation cover on vulnerable hill slopes. When such debris reached river bed and reservoirs, it caused the problem of aggradations and reduced reservoir capacity.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot; title=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot;&gt;CAG report&lt;/a&gt; finds that regulations for slope stabilisation, disposal of debris and river side aggradation were not in place to take care of the environmental issues as envisaged in the MoEF guidelines.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;No control was exercised over riverside constructions. Town-planning and building by-laws were not enforced properly. As a consequence, riverside constructions sustained most damage during the floods of June 2013, finds the &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot; title=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot;&gt;CAG report&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;There was no policy in place to regulate the use of explosives for infrastructure development works in the fragile Himalayan terrain. The state government of Uttarakhand paid little or no attention to the recommendations made by the Disaster Mitigation and Management Centre (DMMC), which asked for banning the use of explosives for infrastructure development in the fragile Himalayan terrain since such explosions led to instability in the surrounding rock strata, says the &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot; title=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot;&gt;CAG report&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot; title=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot;&gt;CAG report&lt;/a&gt; also throws light on the unpreparedness of the State Disaster Management Authority (SDMA) that aggravated the implications of the disaster, namely cloudburst followed by flash floods and landslides, which impacted Uttarakhand during the 3rd week of June, 2013. &amp;nbsp;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot; title=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot;&gt;CAG report&lt;/a&gt; states that the SDMA did not initiate the remedial measures as suggested by the Expert Committee on Glaciers and the DMMC prior to the June 2013 disaster taking into consideration the climatic changes and incidents of landslides that were occurring time and again in the state.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The state government of Uttarakhand had no State Disaster Management policy and guidelines prior to June 2013 disaster for the purpose of measures required for preventing and mitigating disaster and for providing relief to disaster affected persons. The SDMA was virtually non-functional since its inception and it had no State Disaster Management Plan before the disaster struck in June 2013. The Standard Operating Procedures were entirely absent, says the &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot; title=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot;&gt;CAG report&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Despite the occurrence of two major landslides in Uttarkashi and Rudraprayag districts due to unprecedented rainfall in 2012, the state government failed to take into account the underlying risk factors and undertake any corrective measures at any stage subsequently.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot; title=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot;&gt;CAG report&lt;/a&gt; mentions that river bed clearance and construction of embankments were undertaken during September-November 2013, although those works were promised to be finished much earlier following the disasters of 2010 and 2012.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Following the June 2013 disaster, it has been found by &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot; title=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot;&gt;the CAG report&lt;/a&gt; that Emergency Operation Centres both at the state and district levels were running without adequate manpower, equipment and essential communication networks. Following the floods, the District Disaster Management Authorities (DDMA) could not activate the command system to conduct search, rescue and carry out relief operations.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The State machinery and the district administration could not respond effectively due to poor weather and lack of preparedness after the disaster. The helipads were unavailable for smooth operation of air evacuation. Necessary search and rescue equipments like emergency lights, inflatable lights, solar lights, gas cutters, wood cutters etc. were unavailable in the District Emergency Operation Centres of the affected districts i.e. Bageshwar, Chamoli, Pithoragarh, Rudraprayag and Uttarkashi.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The rescue operation was hampered by non-availability of sound communication network. Coordination among various line departments was lacking. There was dearth of uniformity in authentication of losses and disbursement of relief. In the absence of grievance redressal mechanism, most complaints pertaining to financial relief could not be attended to.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The state government was unable to restore essential services like electricity, water and road connectivity on a permanent basis in the affected areas within prescribed time limits. Assessment of damages to infrastructure caused by floods was not undertaken properly, says the &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot; title=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot;&gt;CAG report&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The report has noted that non-identification of safe relief campsites put the lives of the affected people at risk. The state government did not have any mechanism in place to register the Char-Dham pilgrims who were trapped in the floods.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;It is worth noting that the performance audit was carried out by the CAG of India from September, 2014 to February, 2015 so as to assess the Government&amp;#39;s efforts in conducting rescue and relief operations, providing relief, restoring damaged infrastructure and rehabilitating affected people. It was tabled at the State Legislature Assembly of Uttarakhand on 3 November, 2015. The &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot; title=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot;&gt;CAG report&lt;/a&gt; has found that 4,209 human lives were lost and 19,309 houses were destroyed in the Uttarakhand flash floods and landslides during June, 2013. The disaster also killed 17,838 livestocks in the state.&lt;br /&gt;&amp;emsp;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;References:&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Report No. - 2 of 2015 Government of Uttarakhand - Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India on Performance Audit of Natural Disaster in Uttarakhand June 2013, please &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot; title=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot;&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt; to access&lt;br /&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;br /&gt;CAG pulls up Uttarakhand govt. over deluge, The Hindu, 7 November, 2015, please &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/other-states/cag-pulls-up-uttarakhand-govt-over-deluge/article7852955.ece&quot; title=&quot;http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/other-states/cag-pulls-up-uttarakhand-govt-over-deluge/article7852955.ece&quot;&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt; to access&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;CAG report slams Uttarakhand govt -Nikita Mehta, Livemint.com, 6 November, 2015, please &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livemint.com/Politics/F94DyJe65ya152ypFp15gO/CAG-report-slams-Uttarakhand-govt.html&quot; title=&quot;http://www.livemint.com/Politics/F94DyJe65ya152ypFp15gO/CAG-report-slams-Uttarakhand-govt.html&quot;&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt; to access&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Uttarakhand government&amp;#39;s slow response aggravated Kedar disaster, says CAG report -Gaurav Talwar, The Times of India, 4 November, 2015, please &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/latest-news-updates/uttarakhand-government039s-slow-response-aggravated-kedar-disaster-says-cag-report-gaurav-talwar-4677718.html&quot; title=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/latest-news-updates/uttarakhand-government039s-slow-response-aggravated-kedar-disaster-says-cag-report-gaurav-talwar-4677718.html&quot;&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt; to access&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align:justify&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align:justify&quot;&gt;When expedience trumps expertise-Ramachandra Guha, The Hindu, 11 July, 2013, please &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/when-expedience-trumps-expertise/article4902463.ece?homepage=true&quot; title=&quot;http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/when-expedience-trumps-expertise/article4902463.ece?homepage=true&quot;&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt; to access&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Dams and disasters in the Himalayas -Anirudh Burman, Live Mint, 9 July, 2013, please &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livemint.com/Opinion/tVqPyY4BOllrOMAWDqbRZN/Dams-and-disasters-in-Himalayas.html&quot; title=&quot;http://www.livemint.com/Opinion/tVqPyY4BOllrOMAWDqbRZN/Dams-and-disasters-in-Himalayas.html&quot;&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt; to access&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Blame game continues over Uttarakhand forecast -Kavita Upadhyay, The Hindu, 30 June, 2013, please &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/blame-game-continues-over-uttarakhand-forecast/article4866103.ece?homepage=true&quot; title=&quot;http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/blame-game-continues-over-uttarakhand-forecast/article4866103.ece?homepage=true&quot;&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt; to access&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Watershed moment -Himanshu Upadhyaya, Timescrest.com, 29 June, 2013, please &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.timescrest.com/coverstory/watershed-moment-10601&quot; title=&quot;http://www.timescrest.com/coverstory/watershed-moment-10601&quot;&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt; to access&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;CAG had warned last year about Uttarakhand crisis in making-Himanshu Upadhyaya, Governance Now, 27 June, 2013, please &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.governancenow.com/news/regular-story/cag-had-warned-last-year-about-uttarakhand-crisis-making&quot; title=&quot;http://www.governancenow.com/news/regular-story/cag-had-warned-last-year-about-uttarakhand-crisis-making&quot;&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt; to access&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Uttarakhand disaster plan doesn&amp;#39;t exist, CAG warned in April -Subodh Varma, The Times of India, 21 June, 2013, please &lt;a href=&quot;http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Uttarakhand-disaster-plan-doesnt-exist-CAG-warned-in-April/articleshow/20690268.cms&quot; title=&quot;http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Uttarakhand-disaster-plan-doesnt-exist-CAG-warned-in-April/articleshow/20690268.cms&quot;&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt; to access &amp;nbsp;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;CAG had warned three years ago about damage to hills -Pradeep Thakur, The Times of India, 20 June, 2013, please &lt;a href=&quot;http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/CAG-had-warned-three-years-ago-about-damage-to-hills/articleshow/20674521.cms&quot; title=&quot;http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/CAG-had-warned-three-years-ago-about-damage-to-hills/articleshow/20674521.cms&quot;&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt; to access&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Report no.-5 of 2013-Union Government (Ministry of Home Affairs) - Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India on performance Audit of Disaster Preparedness in India, please &lt;a href=&quot;http://saiindia.gov.in/english/home/Our_Products/Audit_Report/Government_Wise/union_audit/recent_reports/union_performance/2013/Civil/Report_5/Report_5.html&quot; title=&quot;http://saiindia.gov.in/english/home/Our_Products/Audit_Report/Government_Wise/union_audit/recent_reports/union_performance/2013/Civil/Report_5/Report_5.html&quot;&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt; to access&lt;br /&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Image Courtesy: Wikimedia Commons&lt;/strong&gt;, please &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kedarnath_Temple#/media/File:Kedarnath_Temple.jpg&quot; title=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kedarnath_Temple#/media/File:Kedarnath_Temple.jpg&quot;&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt; to access&lt;/div&gt;&#039;,
	&#039;lang&#039; =&gt; &#039;English&#039;,
	&#039;SITE_URL&#039; =&gt; &#039;https://im4change.in/&#039;,
	&#039;site_title&#039; =&gt; &#039;im4change&#039;,
	&#039;adminprix&#039; =&gt; &#039;admin&#039;
]
$article_current = object(App\Model\Entity\Article) {

	&#039;id&#039; =&gt; (int) 29777,
	&#039;title&#039; =&gt; &#039;Scale of 2013 Uttarakhand disaster could have been lessened, says CAG report&#039;,
	&#039;subheading&#039; =&gt; &#039;&#039;,
	&#039;description&#039; =&gt; &#039;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align:justify&quot;&gt;As Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh fight the fury of flood caused by annual northeast monsoon, a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) on the natural disaster in Uttarakhand, which took place in June 2013, has been made available in the&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.saiindia.gov.in/english/home/Our_Products/Audit_Report/Government_Wise/state_audit/recent_reports/Uttarakhand/2015/Report_2/2standAlone.html&quot;&gt;public domain&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;recently. The &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot;&gt;CAG report&lt;/a&gt; discloses how various development activities in the state flouted guidelines issued by the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF), Expert Committee on glaciers and various other agencies.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/div&gt;

&lt;div style=&quot;text-align:justify&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
The state of Uttarakhand did not follow the directions given by the MoEF regarding safe disposal of muck generated from excavation during the course of construction activities, points out &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot;&gt;the report&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Unsafe and unscientific disposal of debris originating from excavations and other developmental activities increased the risks of landslides. Excavated debris, disposed of along the hill slopes, often slid down the slopes, thus, overrunning the agricultural fields and water resources, apart from causing significant loss of vegetation cover on vulnerable hill slopes. When such debris reached river bed and reservoirs, it caused the problem of aggradations and reduced reservoir capacity.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
The &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot;&gt;CAG report&lt;/a&gt; finds that regulations for slope stabilisation, disposal of debris and river side aggradation were not in place to take care of the environmental issues as envisaged in the MoEF guidelines.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
No control was exercised over riverside constructions. Town-planning and building by-laws were not enforced properly. As a consequence, riverside constructions sustained most damage during the floods of June 2013, finds the &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot;&gt;CAG report&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
There was no policy in place to regulate the use of explosives for infrastructure development works in the fragile Himalayan terrain. The state government of Uttarakhand paid little or no attention to the recommendations made by the Disaster Mitigation and Management Centre (DMMC), which asked for banning the use of explosives for infrastructure development in the fragile Himalayan terrain since such explosions led to instability in the surrounding rock strata, says the &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot;&gt;CAG report&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
The &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot;&gt;CAG report&lt;/a&gt; also throws light on the unpreparedness of the State Disaster Management Authority (SDMA) that aggravated the implications of the disaster, namely cloudburst followed by flash floods and landslides, which impacted Uttarakhand during the 3rd week of June, 2013. &amp;nbsp;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
The &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot;&gt;CAG report&lt;/a&gt; states that the SDMA did not initiate the remedial measures as suggested by the Expert Committee on Glaciers and the DMMC prior to the June 2013 disaster taking into consideration the climatic changes and incidents of landslides that were occurring time and again in the state.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
The state government of Uttarakhand had no State Disaster Management policy and guidelines prior to June 2013 disaster for the purpose of measures required for preventing and mitigating disaster and for providing relief to disaster affected persons. The SDMA was virtually non-functional since its inception and it had no State Disaster Management Plan before the disaster struck in June 2013. The Standard Operating Procedures were entirely absent, says the &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot;&gt;CAG report&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Despite the occurrence of two major landslides in Uttarkashi and Rudraprayag districts due to unprecedented rainfall in 2012, the state government failed to take into account the underlying risk factors and undertake any corrective measures at any stage subsequently.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
The &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot;&gt;CAG report&lt;/a&gt; mentions that river bed clearance and construction of embankments were undertaken during September-November 2013, although those works were promised to be finished much earlier following the disasters of 2010 and 2012.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Following the June 2013 disaster, it has been found by &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot;&gt;the CAG report&lt;/a&gt; that Emergency Operation Centres both at the state and district levels were running without adequate manpower, equipment and essential communication networks. Following the floods, the District Disaster Management Authorities (DDMA) could not activate the command system to conduct search, rescue and carry out relief operations.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
The State machinery and the district administration could not respond effectively due to poor weather and lack of preparedness after the disaster. The helipads were unavailable for smooth operation of air evacuation. Necessary search and rescue equipments like emergency lights, inflatable lights, solar lights, gas cutters, wood cutters etc. were unavailable in the District Emergency Operation Centres of the affected districts i.e. Bageshwar, Chamoli, Pithoragarh, Rudraprayag and Uttarkashi.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
The rescue operation was hampered by non-availability of sound communication network. Coordination among various line departments was lacking. There was dearth of uniformity in authentication of losses and disbursement of relief. In the absence of grievance redressal mechanism, most complaints pertaining to financial relief could not be attended to.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
The state government was unable to restore essential services like electricity, water and road connectivity on a permanent basis in the affected areas within prescribed time limits. Assessment of damages to infrastructure caused by floods was not undertaken properly, says the &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot;&gt;CAG report&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
The report has noted that non-identification of safe relief campsites put the lives of the affected people at risk. The state government did not have any mechanism in place to register the Char-Dham pilgrims who were trapped in the floods.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
It is worth noting that the performance audit was carried out by the CAG of India from September, 2014 to February, 2015 so as to assess the Government&amp;#39;s efforts in conducting rescue and relief operations, providing relief, restoring damaged infrastructure and rehabilitating affected people. It was tabled at the State Legislature Assembly of Uttarakhand on 3 November, 2015. The &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot;&gt;CAG report&lt;/a&gt; has found that 4,209 human lives were lost and 19,309 houses were destroyed in the Uttarakhand flash floods and landslides during June, 2013. The disaster also killed 17,838 livestocks in the state.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;emsp;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;References:&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Report No. - 2 of 2015 Government of Uttarakhand - Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India on Performance Audit of Natural Disaster in Uttarakhand June 2013, please &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot;&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt; to access&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;nbsp;&lt;br /&gt;
CAG pulls up Uttarakhand govt. over deluge, The Hindu, 7 November, 2015, please &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/other-states/cag-pulls-up-uttarakhand-govt-over-deluge/article7852955.ece&quot;&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt; to access&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
CAG report slams Uttarakhand govt -Nikita Mehta, Livemint.com, 6 November, 2015, please &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livemint.com/Politics/F94DyJe65ya152ypFp15gO/CAG-report-slams-Uttarakhand-govt.html&quot;&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt; to access&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Uttarakhand government&amp;#39;s slow response aggravated Kedar disaster, says CAG report -Gaurav Talwar, The Times of India, 4 November, 2015, please &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/latest-news-updates/uttarakhand-government039s-slow-response-aggravated-kedar-disaster-says-cag-report-gaurav-talwar-4677718.html&quot;&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt; to access&lt;/div&gt;

&lt;div style=&quot;text-align:justify&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/div&gt;

&lt;div style=&quot;text-align:justify&quot;&gt;When expedience trumps expertise-Ramachandra Guha, The Hindu, 11 July, 2013, please &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/when-expedience-trumps-expertise/article4902463.ece?homepage=true&quot;&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt; to access&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Dams and disasters in the Himalayas -Anirudh Burman, Live Mint, 9 July, 2013, please &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livemint.com/Opinion/tVqPyY4BOllrOMAWDqbRZN/Dams-and-disasters-in-Himalayas.html&quot;&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt; to access&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Blame game continues over Uttarakhand forecast -Kavita Upadhyay, The Hindu, 30 June, 2013, please &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/blame-game-continues-over-uttarakhand-forecast/article4866103.ece?homepage=true&quot;&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt; to access&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Watershed moment -Himanshu Upadhyaya, Timescrest.com, 29 June, 2013, please &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.timescrest.com/coverstory/watershed-moment-10601&quot;&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt; to access&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
CAG had warned last year about Uttarakhand crisis in making-Himanshu Upadhyaya, Governance Now, 27 June, 2013, please &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.governancenow.com/news/regular-story/cag-had-warned-last-year-about-uttarakhand-crisis-making&quot;&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt; to access&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Uttarakhand disaster plan doesn&amp;#39;t exist, CAG warned in April -Subodh Varma, The Times of India, 21 June, 2013, please &lt;a href=&quot;http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Uttarakhand-disaster-plan-doesnt-exist-CAG-warned-in-April/articleshow/20690268.cms&quot;&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt; to access &amp;nbsp;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
CAG had warned three years ago about damage to hills -Pradeep Thakur, The Times of India, 20 June, 2013, please &lt;a href=&quot;http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/CAG-had-warned-three-years-ago-about-damage-to-hills/articleshow/20674521.cms&quot;&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt; to access&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Report no.-5 of 2013-Union Government (Ministry of Home Affairs) - Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India on performance Audit of Disaster Preparedness in India, please &lt;a href=&quot;http://saiindia.gov.in/english/home/Our_Products/Audit_Report/Government_Wise/union_audit/recent_reports/union_performance/2013/Civil/Report_5/Report_5.html&quot;&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt; to access&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;strong&gt;Image Courtesy: Wikimedia Commons&lt;/strong&gt;, please &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kedarnath_Temple#/media/File:Kedarnath_Temple.jpg&quot;&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt; to access&lt;/div&gt;
&#039;,
	&#039;credit_writer&#039; =&gt; &#039;&#039;,
	&#039;article_img&#039; =&gt; &#039;im4change_75uttarakhand.jpg&#039;,
	&#039;article_img_thumb&#039; =&gt; &#039;im4change_75uttarakhand.jpg&#039;,
	&#039;status&#039; =&gt; (int) 1,
	&#039;show_on_home&#039; =&gt; (int) 1,
	&#039;lang&#039; =&gt; &#039;EN&#039;,
	&#039;category_id&#039; =&gt; (int) 4,
	&#039;tag_keyword&#039; =&gt; &#039;&#039;,
	&#039;seo_url&#039; =&gt; &#039;scale-of-2013-uttarakhand-disaster-could-have-been-lessened-says-cag-report-4677834&#039;,
	&#039;meta_title&#039; =&gt; &#039;&#039;,
	&#039;meta_keywords&#039; =&gt; &#039;&#039;,
	&#039;meta_description&#039; =&gt; &#039;&#039;,
	&#039;noindex&#039; =&gt; (int) 0,
	&#039;publish_date&#039; =&gt; object(Cake\I18n\FrozenDate) {},
	&#039;most_visit_section_id&#039; =&gt; null,
	&#039;article_big_img&#039; =&gt; null,
	&#039;liveid&#039; =&gt; (int) 4677834,
	&#039;created&#039; =&gt; object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
	&#039;modified&#039; =&gt; object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
	&#039;edate&#039; =&gt; &#039;&#039;,
	&#039;tags&#039; =&gt; [
		(int) 0 =&gt; object(Cake\ORM\Entity) {},
		(int) 1 =&gt; object(Cake\ORM\Entity) {},
		(int) 2 =&gt; object(Cake\ORM\Entity) {},
		(int) 3 =&gt; object(Cake\ORM\Entity) {},
		(int) 4 =&gt; object(Cake\ORM\Entity) {}
	],
	&#039;category&#039; =&gt; object(App\Model\Entity\Category) {},
	&#039;[new]&#039; =&gt; false,
	&#039;[accessible]&#039; =&gt; [
		&#039;*&#039; =&gt; true,
		&#039;id&#039; =&gt; false
	],
	&#039;[dirty]&#039; =&gt; [],
	&#039;[original]&#039; =&gt; [],
	&#039;[virtual]&#039; =&gt; [],
	&#039;[hasErrors]&#039; =&gt; false,
	&#039;[errors]&#039; =&gt; [],
	&#039;[invalid]&#039; =&gt; [],
	&#039;[repository]&#039; =&gt; &#039;Articles&#039;

}
$articleid = (int) 29777
$metaTitle = &#039;NEWS ALERTS | Scale of 2013 Uttarakhand disaster could have been lessened, says CAG report&#039;
$metaKeywords = &#039;flash flood,flash floods,flood,Landslides,uttarakhand&#039;
$metaDesc = &#039;As Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh fight the fury of flood caused by annual northeast monsoon, a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) on the natural disaster in Uttarakhand, which took place in June 2013, has been made...&#039;
$disp = &#039;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align:justify&quot;&gt;As Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh fight the fury of flood caused by annual northeast monsoon, a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) on the natural disaster in Uttarakhand, which took place in June 2013, has been made available in the&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.saiindia.gov.in/english/home/Our_Products/Audit_Report/Government_Wise/state_audit/recent_reports/Uttarakhand/2015/Report_2/2standAlone.html&quot; title=&quot;http://www.saiindia.gov.in/english/home/Our_Products/Audit_Report/Government_Wise/state_audit/recent_reports/Uttarakhand/2015/Report_2/2standAlone.html&quot;&gt;public domain&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;recently. The &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot; title=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot;&gt;CAG report&lt;/a&gt; discloses how various development activities in the state flouted guidelines issued by the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF), Expert Committee on glaciers and various other agencies.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align:justify&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The state of Uttarakhand did not follow the directions given by the MoEF regarding safe disposal of muck generated from excavation during the course of construction activities, points out &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot; title=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot;&gt;the report&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Unsafe and unscientific disposal of debris originating from excavations and other developmental activities increased the risks of landslides. Excavated debris, disposed of along the hill slopes, often slid down the slopes, thus, overrunning the agricultural fields and water resources, apart from causing significant loss of vegetation cover on vulnerable hill slopes. When such debris reached river bed and reservoirs, it caused the problem of aggradations and reduced reservoir capacity.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot; title=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot;&gt;CAG report&lt;/a&gt; finds that regulations for slope stabilisation, disposal of debris and river side aggradation were not in place to take care of the environmental issues as envisaged in the MoEF guidelines.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;No control was exercised over riverside constructions. Town-planning and building by-laws were not enforced properly. As a consequence, riverside constructions sustained most damage during the floods of June 2013, finds the &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot; title=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot;&gt;CAG report&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;There was no policy in place to regulate the use of explosives for infrastructure development works in the fragile Himalayan terrain. The state government of Uttarakhand paid little or no attention to the recommendations made by the Disaster Mitigation and Management Centre (DMMC), which asked for banning the use of explosives for infrastructure development in the fragile Himalayan terrain since such explosions led to instability in the surrounding rock strata, says the &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot; title=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot;&gt;CAG report&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot; title=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot;&gt;CAG report&lt;/a&gt; also throws light on the unpreparedness of the State Disaster Management Authority (SDMA) that aggravated the implications of the disaster, namely cloudburst followed by flash floods and landslides, which impacted Uttarakhand during the 3rd week of June, 2013. &amp;nbsp;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot; title=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot;&gt;CAG report&lt;/a&gt; states that the SDMA did not initiate the remedial measures as suggested by the Expert Committee on Glaciers and the DMMC prior to the June 2013 disaster taking into consideration the climatic changes and incidents of landslides that were occurring time and again in the state.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The state government of Uttarakhand had no State Disaster Management policy and guidelines prior to June 2013 disaster for the purpose of measures required for preventing and mitigating disaster and for providing relief to disaster affected persons. The SDMA was virtually non-functional since its inception and it had no State Disaster Management Plan before the disaster struck in June 2013. The Standard Operating Procedures were entirely absent, says the &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot; title=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot;&gt;CAG report&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Despite the occurrence of two major landslides in Uttarkashi and Rudraprayag districts due to unprecedented rainfall in 2012, the state government failed to take into account the underlying risk factors and undertake any corrective measures at any stage subsequently.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot; title=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot;&gt;CAG report&lt;/a&gt; mentions that river bed clearance and construction of embankments were undertaken during September-November 2013, although those works were promised to be finished much earlier following the disasters of 2010 and 2012.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Following the June 2013 disaster, it has been found by &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot; title=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot;&gt;the CAG report&lt;/a&gt; that Emergency Operation Centres both at the state and district levels were running without adequate manpower, equipment and essential communication networks. Following the floods, the District Disaster Management Authorities (DDMA) could not activate the command system to conduct search, rescue and carry out relief operations.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The State machinery and the district administration could not respond effectively due to poor weather and lack of preparedness after the disaster. The helipads were unavailable for smooth operation of air evacuation. Necessary search and rescue equipments like emergency lights, inflatable lights, solar lights, gas cutters, wood cutters etc. were unavailable in the District Emergency Operation Centres of the affected districts i.e. Bageshwar, Chamoli, Pithoragarh, Rudraprayag and Uttarkashi.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The rescue operation was hampered by non-availability of sound communication network. Coordination among various line departments was lacking. There was dearth of uniformity in authentication of losses and disbursement of relief. In the absence of grievance redressal mechanism, most complaints pertaining to financial relief could not be attended to.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The state government was unable to restore essential services like electricity, water and road connectivity on a permanent basis in the affected areas within prescribed time limits. Assessment of damages to infrastructure caused by floods was not undertaken properly, says the &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot; title=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot;&gt;CAG report&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The report has noted that non-identification of safe relief campsites put the lives of the affected people at risk. The state government did not have any mechanism in place to register the Char-Dham pilgrims who were trapped in the floods.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;It is worth noting that the performance audit was carried out by the CAG of India from September, 2014 to February, 2015 so as to assess the Government&amp;#39;s efforts in conducting rescue and relief operations, providing relief, restoring damaged infrastructure and rehabilitating affected people. It was tabled at the State Legislature Assembly of Uttarakhand on 3 November, 2015. The &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot; title=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot;&gt;CAG report&lt;/a&gt; has found that 4,209 human lives were lost and 19,309 houses were destroyed in the Uttarakhand flash floods and landslides during June, 2013. The disaster also killed 17,838 livestocks in the state.&lt;br /&gt;&amp;emsp;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;References:&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Report No. - 2 of 2015 Government of Uttarakhand - Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India on Performance Audit of Natural Disaster in Uttarakhand June 2013, please &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot; title=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot;&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt; to access&lt;br /&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;br /&gt;CAG pulls up Uttarakhand govt. over deluge, The Hindu, 7 November, 2015, please &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/other-states/cag-pulls-up-uttarakhand-govt-over-deluge/article7852955.ece&quot; title=&quot;http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/other-states/cag-pulls-up-uttarakhand-govt-over-deluge/article7852955.ece&quot;&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt; to access&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;CAG report slams Uttarakhand govt -Nikita Mehta, Livemint.com, 6 November, 2015, please &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livemint.com/Politics/F94DyJe65ya152ypFp15gO/CAG-report-slams-Uttarakhand-govt.html&quot; title=&quot;http://www.livemint.com/Politics/F94DyJe65ya152ypFp15gO/CAG-report-slams-Uttarakhand-govt.html&quot;&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt; to access&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Uttarakhand government&amp;#39;s slow response aggravated Kedar disaster, says CAG report -Gaurav Talwar, The Times of India, 4 November, 2015, please &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/latest-news-updates/uttarakhand-government039s-slow-response-aggravated-kedar-disaster-says-cag-report-gaurav-talwar-4677718.html&quot; title=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/latest-news-updates/uttarakhand-government039s-slow-response-aggravated-kedar-disaster-says-cag-report-gaurav-talwar-4677718.html&quot;&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt; to access&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align:justify&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align:justify&quot;&gt;When expedience trumps expertise-Ramachandra Guha, The Hindu, 11 July, 2013, please &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/when-expedience-trumps-expertise/article4902463.ece?homepage=true&quot; title=&quot;http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/when-expedience-trumps-expertise/article4902463.ece?homepage=true&quot;&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt; to access&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Dams and disasters in the Himalayas -Anirudh Burman, Live Mint, 9 July, 2013, please &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livemint.com/Opinion/tVqPyY4BOllrOMAWDqbRZN/Dams-and-disasters-in-Himalayas.html&quot; title=&quot;http://www.livemint.com/Opinion/tVqPyY4BOllrOMAWDqbRZN/Dams-and-disasters-in-Himalayas.html&quot;&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt; to access&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Blame game continues over Uttarakhand forecast -Kavita Upadhyay, The Hindu, 30 June, 2013, please &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/blame-game-continues-over-uttarakhand-forecast/article4866103.ece?homepage=true&quot; title=&quot;http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/blame-game-continues-over-uttarakhand-forecast/article4866103.ece?homepage=true&quot;&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt; to access&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Watershed moment -Himanshu Upadhyaya, Timescrest.com, 29 June, 2013, please &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.timescrest.com/coverstory/watershed-moment-10601&quot; title=&quot;http://www.timescrest.com/coverstory/watershed-moment-10601&quot;&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt; to access&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;CAG had warned last year about Uttarakhand crisis in making-Himanshu Upadhyaya, Governance Now, 27 June, 2013, please &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.governancenow.com/news/regular-story/cag-had-warned-last-year-about-uttarakhand-crisis-making&quot; title=&quot;http://www.governancenow.com/news/regular-story/cag-had-warned-last-year-about-uttarakhand-crisis-making&quot;&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt; to access&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Uttarakhand disaster plan doesn&amp;#39;t exist, CAG warned in April -Subodh Varma, The Times of India, 21 June, 2013, please &lt;a href=&quot;http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Uttarakhand-disaster-plan-doesnt-exist-CAG-warned-in-April/articleshow/20690268.cms&quot; title=&quot;http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Uttarakhand-disaster-plan-doesnt-exist-CAG-warned-in-April/articleshow/20690268.cms&quot;&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt; to access &amp;nbsp;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;CAG had warned three years ago about damage to hills -Pradeep Thakur, The Times of India, 20 June, 2013, please &lt;a href=&quot;http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/CAG-had-warned-three-years-ago-about-damage-to-hills/articleshow/20674521.cms&quot; title=&quot;http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/CAG-had-warned-three-years-ago-about-damage-to-hills/articleshow/20674521.cms&quot;&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt; to access&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Report no.-5 of 2013-Union Government (Ministry of Home Affairs) - Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India on performance Audit of Disaster Preparedness in India, please &lt;a href=&quot;http://saiindia.gov.in/english/home/Our_Products/Audit_Report/Government_Wise/union_audit/recent_reports/union_performance/2013/Civil/Report_5/Report_5.html&quot; title=&quot;http://saiindia.gov.in/english/home/Our_Products/Audit_Report/Government_Wise/union_audit/recent_reports/union_performance/2013/Civil/Report_5/Report_5.html&quot;&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt; to access&lt;br /&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Image Courtesy: Wikimedia Commons&lt;/strong&gt;, please &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kedarnath_Temple#/media/File:Kedarnath_Temple.jpg&quot; title=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kedarnath_Temple#/media/File:Kedarnath_Temple.jpg&quot;&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt; to access&lt;/div&gt;&#039;
$lang = &#039;English&#039;
$SITE_URL = &#039;https://im4change.in/&#039;
$site_title = &#039;im4change&#039;
$adminprix = &#039;admin&#039;</pre><pre class="stack-trace">include - APP/Template/Layout/printlayout.ctp, line 8
Cake\View\View::_evaluate() - CORE/src/View/View.php, line 1413
Cake\View\View::_render() - CORE/src/View/View.php, line 1374
Cake\View\View::renderLayout() - CORE/src/View/View.php, line 927
Cake\View\View::render() - CORE/src/View/View.php, line 885
Cake\Controller\Controller::render() - CORE/src/Controller/Controller.php, line 791
Cake\Http\ActionDispatcher::_invoke() - CORE/src/Http/ActionDispatcher.php, line 126
Cake\Http\ActionDispatcher::dispatch() - CORE/src/Http/ActionDispatcher.php, line 94
Cake\Http\BaseApplication::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/BaseApplication.php, line 235
Cake\Http\Runner::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 65
Cake\Routing\Middleware\RoutingMiddleware::__invoke() - CORE/src/Routing/Middleware/RoutingMiddleware.php, line 162
Cake\Http\Runner::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 65
Cake\Routing\Middleware\AssetMiddleware::__invoke() - CORE/src/Routing/Middleware/AssetMiddleware.php, line 88
Cake\Http\Runner::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 65
Cake\Error\Middleware\ErrorHandlerMiddleware::__invoke() - CORE/src/Error/Middleware/ErrorHandlerMiddleware.php, line 96
Cake\Http\Runner::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 65
Cake\Http\Runner::run() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 51</pre></div></pre>news-alerts-57/scale-of-2013-uttarakhand-disaster-could-have-been-lessened-says-cag-report-4677834.html"/>
    <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"/>
    <link href="https://im4change.in/css/control.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css"
          media="all"/>
    <title>NEWS ALERTS | Scale of 2013 Uttarakhand disaster could have been lessened, says CAG report | Im4change.org</title>
    <meta name="description" content="As Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh fight the fury of flood caused by annual northeast monsoon, a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) on the natural disaster in Uttarakhand, which took place in June 2013, has been made..."/>
    <script src="https://im4change.in/js/jquery-1.10.2.js"></script>
    <script type="text/javascript" src="https://im4change.in/js/jquery-migrate.min.js"></script>
    <script language="javascript" type="text/javascript">

        $(document).ready(function () {
            var img = $("img")[0]; // Get my img elem
            var pic_real_width, pic_real_height;
            $("<img/>") // Make in memory copy of image to avoid css issues
                .attr("src", $(img).attr("src"))
                .load(function () {
                    pic_real_width = this.width;   // Note: $(this).width() will not
                    pic_real_height = this.height; // work for in memory images.
                });
        });
    </script>
    <style type="text/css">
        @media screen {
            div.divFooter {
                display: block;
            }
        }

        @media print {
            .printbutton {
                display: none !important;
            }
        }
    </style>
</head>
<body>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" border="0" width="98%" align="center">
    <tr>
        <td class="top_bg">
            <div class="divFooter">
                <img src="https://im4change.in/images/logo1.jpg" height="59" border="0"
                     alt="Resource centre on India's rural distress" style="padding-top:14px;"/>
            </div>

        </td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
        <td id="topspace">&nbsp;</td>
    </tr>

    <tr id="topspace">
        <td>&nbsp;</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
        <td height="50" style="border-bottom:1px solid #000; padding-top:10px;" class="printbutton">
            <form><input type="button" value=" Print this page "
                         onclick="window.print();return false;"/></form>
        </td>
    </tr>

    <tr>
        <td width="100%">
            <h1 class="news_headlines" style="font-style:normal">
                <strong>Scale of 2013 Uttarakhand disaster could have been lessened, says CAG report</strong></h1>
        </td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
        <td width="100%" style="font-family:Arial, 'Segoe Script', 'Segoe UI', sans-serif, serif"><font size="3">
                <div style="text-align:justify">As Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh fight the fury of flood caused by annual northeast monsoon, a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) on the natural disaster in Uttarakhand, which took place in June 2013, has been made available in the&nbsp;<a href="http://www.saiindia.gov.in/english/home/Our_Products/Audit_Report/Government_Wise/state_audit/recent_reports/Uttarakhand/2015/Report_2/2standAlone.html" title="http://www.saiindia.gov.in/english/home/Our_Products/Audit_Report/Government_Wise/state_audit/recent_reports/Uttarakhand/2015/Report_2/2standAlone.html">public domain</a>&nbsp;recently. The <a href="https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf" title="https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf">CAG report</a> discloses how various development activities in the state flouted guidelines issued by the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF), Expert Committee on glaciers and various other agencies.&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align:justify"><br />The state of Uttarakhand did not follow the directions given by the MoEF regarding safe disposal of muck generated from excavation during the course of construction activities, points out <a href="https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf" title="https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf">the report</a>.<br /><br />Unsafe and unscientific disposal of debris originating from excavations and other developmental activities increased the risks of landslides. Excavated debris, disposed of along the hill slopes, often slid down the slopes, thus, overrunning the agricultural fields and water resources, apart from causing significant loss of vegetation cover on vulnerable hill slopes. When such debris reached river bed and reservoirs, it caused the problem of aggradations and reduced reservoir capacity.<br /><br />The <a href="https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf" title="https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf">CAG report</a> finds that regulations for slope stabilisation, disposal of debris and river side aggradation were not in place to take care of the environmental issues as envisaged in the MoEF guidelines.<br /><br />No control was exercised over riverside constructions. Town-planning and building by-laws were not enforced properly. As a consequence, riverside constructions sustained most damage during the floods of June 2013, finds the <a href="https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf" title="https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf">CAG report</a>.<br /><br />There was no policy in place to regulate the use of explosives for infrastructure development works in the fragile Himalayan terrain. The state government of Uttarakhand paid little or no attention to the recommendations made by the Disaster Mitigation and Management Centre (DMMC), which asked for banning the use of explosives for infrastructure development in the fragile Himalayan terrain since such explosions led to instability in the surrounding rock strata, says the <a href="https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf" title="https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf">CAG report</a>.<br /><br />The <a href="https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf" title="https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf">CAG report</a> also throws light on the unpreparedness of the State Disaster Management Authority (SDMA) that aggravated the implications of the disaster, namely cloudburst followed by flash floods and landslides, which impacted Uttarakhand during the 3rd week of June, 2013. &nbsp;<br /><br />The <a href="https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf" title="https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf">CAG report</a> states that the SDMA did not initiate the remedial measures as suggested by the Expert Committee on Glaciers and the DMMC prior to the June 2013 disaster taking into consideration the climatic changes and incidents of landslides that were occurring time and again in the state.<br /><br />The state government of Uttarakhand had no State Disaster Management policy and guidelines prior to June 2013 disaster for the purpose of measures required for preventing and mitigating disaster and for providing relief to disaster affected persons. The SDMA was virtually non-functional since its inception and it had no State Disaster Management Plan before the disaster struck in June 2013. The Standard Operating Procedures were entirely absent, says the <a href="https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf" title="https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf">CAG report</a>.<br /><br />Despite the occurrence of two major landslides in Uttarkashi and Rudraprayag districts due to unprecedented rainfall in 2012, the state government failed to take into account the underlying risk factors and undertake any corrective measures at any stage subsequently.<br /><br />The <a href="https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf" title="https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf">CAG report</a> mentions that river bed clearance and construction of embankments were undertaken during September-November 2013, although those works were promised to be finished much earlier following the disasters of 2010 and 2012.<br /><br />Following the June 2013 disaster, it has been found by <a href="https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf" title="https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf">the CAG report</a> that Emergency Operation Centres both at the state and district levels were running without adequate manpower, equipment and essential communication networks. Following the floods, the District Disaster Management Authorities (DDMA) could not activate the command system to conduct search, rescue and carry out relief operations.<br /><br />The State machinery and the district administration could not respond effectively due to poor weather and lack of preparedness after the disaster. The helipads were unavailable for smooth operation of air evacuation. Necessary search and rescue equipments like emergency lights, inflatable lights, solar lights, gas cutters, wood cutters etc. were unavailable in the District Emergency Operation Centres of the affected districts i.e. Bageshwar, Chamoli, Pithoragarh, Rudraprayag and Uttarkashi.<br /><br />The rescue operation was hampered by non-availability of sound communication network. Coordination among various line departments was lacking. There was dearth of uniformity in authentication of losses and disbursement of relief. In the absence of grievance redressal mechanism, most complaints pertaining to financial relief could not be attended to.<br /><br />The state government was unable to restore essential services like electricity, water and road connectivity on a permanent basis in the affected areas within prescribed time limits. Assessment of damages to infrastructure caused by floods was not undertaken properly, says the <a href="https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf" title="https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf">CAG report</a>.<br /><br />The report has noted that non-identification of safe relief campsites put the lives of the affected people at risk. The state government did not have any mechanism in place to register the Char-Dham pilgrims who were trapped in the floods.<br /><br />It is worth noting that the performance audit was carried out by the CAG of India from September, 2014 to February, 2015 so as to assess the Government&#39;s efforts in conducting rescue and relief operations, providing relief, restoring damaged infrastructure and rehabilitating affected people. It was tabled at the State Legislature Assembly of Uttarakhand on 3 November, 2015. The <a href="https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf" title="https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf">CAG report</a> has found that 4,209 human lives were lost and 19,309 houses were destroyed in the Uttarakhand flash floods and landslides during June, 2013. The disaster also killed 17,838 livestocks in the state.<br />&emsp;<br /><strong><em>References:</em></strong><br /><br />Report No. - 2 of 2015 Government of Uttarakhand - Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India on Performance Audit of Natural Disaster in Uttarakhand June 2013, please <a href="https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf" title="https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf">click here</a> to access<br />&nbsp;<br />CAG pulls up Uttarakhand govt. over deluge, The Hindu, 7 November, 2015, please <a href="http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/other-states/cag-pulls-up-uttarakhand-govt-over-deluge/article7852955.ece" title="http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/other-states/cag-pulls-up-uttarakhand-govt-over-deluge/article7852955.ece">click here</a> to access<br /><br />CAG report slams Uttarakhand govt -Nikita Mehta, Livemint.com, 6 November, 2015, please <a href="http://www.livemint.com/Politics/F94DyJe65ya152ypFp15gO/CAG-report-slams-Uttarakhand-govt.html" title="http://www.livemint.com/Politics/F94DyJe65ya152ypFp15gO/CAG-report-slams-Uttarakhand-govt.html">click here</a> to access<br /><br />Uttarakhand government&#39;s slow response aggravated Kedar disaster, says CAG report -Gaurav Talwar, The Times of India, 4 November, 2015, please <a href="https://www.im4change.org/latest-news-updates/uttarakhand-government039s-slow-response-aggravated-kedar-disaster-says-cag-report-gaurav-talwar-4677718.html" title="https://www.im4change.org/latest-news-updates/uttarakhand-government039s-slow-response-aggravated-kedar-disaster-says-cag-report-gaurav-talwar-4677718.html">click here</a> to access</div><div style="text-align:justify">&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align:justify">When expedience trumps expertise-Ramachandra Guha, The Hindu, 11 July, 2013, please <a href="http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/when-expedience-trumps-expertise/article4902463.ece?homepage=true" title="http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/when-expedience-trumps-expertise/article4902463.ece?homepage=true">click here</a> to access<br /><br />Dams and disasters in the Himalayas -Anirudh Burman, Live Mint, 9 July, 2013, please <a href="http://www.livemint.com/Opinion/tVqPyY4BOllrOMAWDqbRZN/Dams-and-disasters-in-Himalayas.html" title="http://www.livemint.com/Opinion/tVqPyY4BOllrOMAWDqbRZN/Dams-and-disasters-in-Himalayas.html">click here</a> to access<br /><br />Blame game continues over Uttarakhand forecast -Kavita Upadhyay, The Hindu, 30 June, 2013, please <a href="http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/blame-game-continues-over-uttarakhand-forecast/article4866103.ece?homepage=true" title="http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/blame-game-continues-over-uttarakhand-forecast/article4866103.ece?homepage=true">click here</a> to access<br /><br />Watershed moment -Himanshu Upadhyaya, Timescrest.com, 29 June, 2013, please <a href="http://www.timescrest.com/coverstory/watershed-moment-10601" title="http://www.timescrest.com/coverstory/watershed-moment-10601">click here</a> to access<br /><br />CAG had warned last year about Uttarakhand crisis in making-Himanshu Upadhyaya, Governance Now, 27 June, 2013, please <a href="http://www.governancenow.com/news/regular-story/cag-had-warned-last-year-about-uttarakhand-crisis-making" title="http://www.governancenow.com/news/regular-story/cag-had-warned-last-year-about-uttarakhand-crisis-making">click here</a> to access<br /><br />Uttarakhand disaster plan doesn&#39;t exist, CAG warned in April -Subodh Varma, The Times of India, 21 June, 2013, please <a href="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Uttarakhand-disaster-plan-doesnt-exist-CAG-warned-in-April/articleshow/20690268.cms" title="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Uttarakhand-disaster-plan-doesnt-exist-CAG-warned-in-April/articleshow/20690268.cms">click here</a> to access &nbsp;<br /><br />CAG had warned three years ago about damage to hills -Pradeep Thakur, The Times of India, 20 June, 2013, please <a href="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/CAG-had-warned-three-years-ago-about-damage-to-hills/articleshow/20674521.cms" title="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/CAG-had-warned-three-years-ago-about-damage-to-hills/articleshow/20674521.cms">click here</a> to access<br /><br />Report no.-5 of 2013-Union Government (Ministry of Home Affairs) - Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India on performance Audit of Disaster Preparedness in India, please <a href="http://saiindia.gov.in/english/home/Our_Products/Audit_Report/Government_Wise/union_audit/recent_reports/union_performance/2013/Civil/Report_5/Report_5.html" title="http://saiindia.gov.in/english/home/Our_Products/Audit_Report/Government_Wise/union_audit/recent_reports/union_performance/2013/Civil/Report_5/Report_5.html">click here</a> to access<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<br /><strong>Image Courtesy: Wikimedia Commons</strong>, please <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kedarnath_Temple#/media/File:Kedarnath_Temple.jpg" title="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kedarnath_Temple#/media/File:Kedarnath_Temple.jpg">click here</a> to access</div>               </font>
        </td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
        <td>&nbsp;</td>
    </tr>

    <tr>
        <td height="50" style="border-top:1px solid #000; border-bottom:1px solid #000;padding-top:10px;">
            <form><input type="button" value=" Print this page "
                         onclick="window.print();return false;"/></form>
        </td>
    </tr>
</table></body>
</html>'

}
$reasonPhrase = 'OK'
header - [internal], line ??
Cake\Http\ResponseEmitter::emitStatusLine() - CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 148
Cake\Http\ResponseEmitter::emit() - CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 54
Cake\Http\Server::emit() - CORE/src/Http/Server.php, line 141
[main] - ROOT/webroot/index.php, line 39

Warning (2): Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php:853) [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 181]
Code Context
                    $value

                ), $first);

                $first = false;
$response = object(Cake\Http\Response) {

	'status' => (int) 200,
	'contentType' => 'text/html',
	'headers' => [
		'Content-Type' => [
			[maximum depth reached]
		]
	],
	'file' => null,
	'fileRange' => [],
	'cookies' => object(Cake\Http\Cookie\CookieCollection) {},
	'cacheDirectives' => [],
	'body' => '<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN"
        "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
<head>
    <link rel="canonical" href="https://im4change.in/<pre class="cake-error"><a href="javascript:void(0);" onclick="document.getElementById('cakeErr67f7f06c3fe10-trace').style.display = (document.getElementById('cakeErr67f7f06c3fe10-trace').style.display == 'none' ? '' : 'none');"><b>Notice</b> (8)</a>: Undefined variable: urlPrefix [<b>APP/Template/Layout/printlayout.ctp</b>, line <b>8</b>]<div id="cakeErr67f7f06c3fe10-trace" class="cake-stack-trace" style="display: none;"><a href="javascript:void(0);" onclick="document.getElementById('cakeErr67f7f06c3fe10-code').style.display = (document.getElementById('cakeErr67f7f06c3fe10-code').style.display == 'none' ? '' : 'none')">Code</a> <a href="javascript:void(0);" onclick="document.getElementById('cakeErr67f7f06c3fe10-context').style.display = (document.getElementById('cakeErr67f7f06c3fe10-context').style.display == 'none' ? '' : 'none')">Context</a><pre id="cakeErr67f7f06c3fe10-code" class="cake-code-dump" style="display: none;"><code><span style="color: #000000"><span style="color: #0000BB"></span><span style="color: #007700">&lt;</span><span style="color: #0000BB">head</span><span style="color: #007700">&gt;
</span></span></code>
<span class="code-highlight"><code><span style="color: #000000">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&lt;link&nbsp;rel="canonical"&nbsp;href="<span style="color: #0000BB">&lt;?php&nbsp;</span><span style="color: #007700">echo&nbsp;</span><span style="color: #0000BB">Configure</span><span style="color: #007700">::</span><span style="color: #0000BB">read</span><span style="color: #007700">(</span><span style="color: #DD0000">'SITE_URL'</span><span style="color: #007700">);&nbsp;</span><span style="color: #0000BB">?&gt;&lt;?php&nbsp;</span><span style="color: #007700">echo&nbsp;</span><span style="color: #0000BB">$urlPrefix</span><span style="color: #007700">;</span><span style="color: #0000BB">?&gt;&lt;?php&nbsp;</span><span style="color: #007700">echo&nbsp;</span><span style="color: #0000BB">$article_current</span><span style="color: #007700">-&gt;</span><span style="color: #0000BB">category</span><span style="color: #007700">-&gt;</span><span style="color: #0000BB">slug</span><span style="color: #007700">;&nbsp;</span><span style="color: #0000BB">?&gt;</span>/<span style="color: #0000BB">&lt;?php&nbsp;</span><span style="color: #007700">echo&nbsp;</span><span style="color: #0000BB">$article_current</span><span style="color: #007700">-&gt;</span><span style="color: #0000BB">seo_url</span><span style="color: #007700">;&nbsp;</span><span style="color: #0000BB">?&gt;</span>.html"/&gt;
</span></code></span>
<code><span style="color: #000000"><span style="color: #0000BB">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</span><span style="color: #007700">&lt;</span><span style="color: #0000BB">meta&nbsp;http</span><span style="color: #007700">-</span><span style="color: #0000BB">equiv</span><span style="color: #007700">=</span><span style="color: #DD0000">"Content-Type"&nbsp;</span><span style="color: #0000BB">content</span><span style="color: #007700">=</span><span style="color: #DD0000">"text/html;&nbsp;charset=utf-8"</span><span style="color: #007700">/&gt;
</span></span></code></pre><pre id="cakeErr67f7f06c3fe10-context" class="cake-context" style="display: none;">$viewFile = &#039;/home/brlfuser/public_html/src/Template/Layout/printlayout.ctp&#039;
$dataForView = [
	&#039;article_current&#039; =&gt; object(App\Model\Entity\Article) {

		&#039;id&#039; =&gt; (int) 29777,
		&#039;title&#039; =&gt; &#039;Scale of 2013 Uttarakhand disaster could have been lessened, says CAG report&#039;,
		&#039;subheading&#039; =&gt; &#039;&#039;,
		&#039;description&#039; =&gt; &#039;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align:justify&quot;&gt;As Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh fight the fury of flood caused by annual northeast monsoon, a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) on the natural disaster in Uttarakhand, which took place in June 2013, has been made available in the&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.saiindia.gov.in/english/home/Our_Products/Audit_Report/Government_Wise/state_audit/recent_reports/Uttarakhand/2015/Report_2/2standAlone.html&quot;&gt;public domain&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;recently. The &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot;&gt;CAG report&lt;/a&gt; discloses how various development activities in the state flouted guidelines issued by the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF), Expert Committee on glaciers and various other agencies.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/div&gt;

&lt;div style=&quot;text-align:justify&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
The state of Uttarakhand did not follow the directions given by the MoEF regarding safe disposal of muck generated from excavation during the course of construction activities, points out &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot;&gt;the report&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Unsafe and unscientific disposal of debris originating from excavations and other developmental activities increased the risks of landslides. Excavated debris, disposed of along the hill slopes, often slid down the slopes, thus, overrunning the agricultural fields and water resources, apart from causing significant loss of vegetation cover on vulnerable hill slopes. When such debris reached river bed and reservoirs, it caused the problem of aggradations and reduced reservoir capacity.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
The &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot;&gt;CAG report&lt;/a&gt; finds that regulations for slope stabilisation, disposal of debris and river side aggradation were not in place to take care of the environmental issues as envisaged in the MoEF guidelines.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
No control was exercised over riverside constructions. Town-planning and building by-laws were not enforced properly. As a consequence, riverside constructions sustained most damage during the floods of June 2013, finds the &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot;&gt;CAG report&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
There was no policy in place to regulate the use of explosives for infrastructure development works in the fragile Himalayan terrain. The state government of Uttarakhand paid little or no attention to the recommendations made by the Disaster Mitigation and Management Centre (DMMC), which asked for banning the use of explosives for infrastructure development in the fragile Himalayan terrain since such explosions led to instability in the surrounding rock strata, says the &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot;&gt;CAG report&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
The &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot;&gt;CAG report&lt;/a&gt; also throws light on the unpreparedness of the State Disaster Management Authority (SDMA) that aggravated the implications of the disaster, namely cloudburst followed by flash floods and landslides, which impacted Uttarakhand during the 3rd week of June, 2013. &amp;nbsp;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
The &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot;&gt;CAG report&lt;/a&gt; states that the SDMA did not initiate the remedial measures as suggested by the Expert Committee on Glaciers and the DMMC prior to the June 2013 disaster taking into consideration the climatic changes and incidents of landslides that were occurring time and again in the state.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
The state government of Uttarakhand had no State Disaster Management policy and guidelines prior to June 2013 disaster for the purpose of measures required for preventing and mitigating disaster and for providing relief to disaster affected persons. The SDMA was virtually non-functional since its inception and it had no State Disaster Management Plan before the disaster struck in June 2013. The Standard Operating Procedures were entirely absent, says the &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot;&gt;CAG report&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Despite the occurrence of two major landslides in Uttarkashi and Rudraprayag districts due to unprecedented rainfall in 2012, the state government failed to take into account the underlying risk factors and undertake any corrective measures at any stage subsequently.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
The &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot;&gt;CAG report&lt;/a&gt; mentions that river bed clearance and construction of embankments were undertaken during September-November 2013, although those works were promised to be finished much earlier following the disasters of 2010 and 2012.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Following the June 2013 disaster, it has been found by &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot;&gt;the CAG report&lt;/a&gt; that Emergency Operation Centres both at the state and district levels were running without adequate manpower, equipment and essential communication networks. Following the floods, the District Disaster Management Authorities (DDMA) could not activate the command system to conduct search, rescue and carry out relief operations.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
The State machinery and the district administration could not respond effectively due to poor weather and lack of preparedness after the disaster. The helipads were unavailable for smooth operation of air evacuation. Necessary search and rescue equipments like emergency lights, inflatable lights, solar lights, gas cutters, wood cutters etc. were unavailable in the District Emergency Operation Centres of the affected districts i.e. Bageshwar, Chamoli, Pithoragarh, Rudraprayag and Uttarkashi.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
The rescue operation was hampered by non-availability of sound communication network. Coordination among various line departments was lacking. There was dearth of uniformity in authentication of losses and disbursement of relief. In the absence of grievance redressal mechanism, most complaints pertaining to financial relief could not be attended to.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
The state government was unable to restore essential services like electricity, water and road connectivity on a permanent basis in the affected areas within prescribed time limits. Assessment of damages to infrastructure caused by floods was not undertaken properly, says the &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot;&gt;CAG report&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
The report has noted that non-identification of safe relief campsites put the lives of the affected people at risk. The state government did not have any mechanism in place to register the Char-Dham pilgrims who were trapped in the floods.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
It is worth noting that the performance audit was carried out by the CAG of India from September, 2014 to February, 2015 so as to assess the Government&amp;#39;s efforts in conducting rescue and relief operations, providing relief, restoring damaged infrastructure and rehabilitating affected people. It was tabled at the State Legislature Assembly of Uttarakhand on 3 November, 2015. The &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot;&gt;CAG report&lt;/a&gt; has found that 4,209 human lives were lost and 19,309 houses were destroyed in the Uttarakhand flash floods and landslides during June, 2013. The disaster also killed 17,838 livestocks in the state.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;emsp;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;References:&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Report No. - 2 of 2015 Government of Uttarakhand - Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India on Performance Audit of Natural Disaster in Uttarakhand June 2013, please &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot;&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt; to access&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;nbsp;&lt;br /&gt;
CAG pulls up Uttarakhand govt. over deluge, The Hindu, 7 November, 2015, please &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/other-states/cag-pulls-up-uttarakhand-govt-over-deluge/article7852955.ece&quot;&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt; to access&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
CAG report slams Uttarakhand govt -Nikita Mehta, Livemint.com, 6 November, 2015, please &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livemint.com/Politics/F94DyJe65ya152ypFp15gO/CAG-report-slams-Uttarakhand-govt.html&quot;&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt; to access&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Uttarakhand government&amp;#39;s slow response aggravated Kedar disaster, says CAG report -Gaurav Talwar, The Times of India, 4 November, 2015, please &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/latest-news-updates/uttarakhand-government039s-slow-response-aggravated-kedar-disaster-says-cag-report-gaurav-talwar-4677718.html&quot;&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt; to access&lt;/div&gt;

&lt;div style=&quot;text-align:justify&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/div&gt;

&lt;div style=&quot;text-align:justify&quot;&gt;When expedience trumps expertise-Ramachandra Guha, The Hindu, 11 July, 2013, please &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/when-expedience-trumps-expertise/article4902463.ece?homepage=true&quot;&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt; to access&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Dams and disasters in the Himalayas -Anirudh Burman, Live Mint, 9 July, 2013, please &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livemint.com/Opinion/tVqPyY4BOllrOMAWDqbRZN/Dams-and-disasters-in-Himalayas.html&quot;&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt; to access&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Blame game continues over Uttarakhand forecast -Kavita Upadhyay, The Hindu, 30 June, 2013, please &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/blame-game-continues-over-uttarakhand-forecast/article4866103.ece?homepage=true&quot;&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt; to access&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Watershed moment -Himanshu Upadhyaya, Timescrest.com, 29 June, 2013, please &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.timescrest.com/coverstory/watershed-moment-10601&quot;&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt; to access&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
CAG had warned last year about Uttarakhand crisis in making-Himanshu Upadhyaya, Governance Now, 27 June, 2013, please &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.governancenow.com/news/regular-story/cag-had-warned-last-year-about-uttarakhand-crisis-making&quot;&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt; to access&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Uttarakhand disaster plan doesn&amp;#39;t exist, CAG warned in April -Subodh Varma, The Times of India, 21 June, 2013, please &lt;a href=&quot;http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Uttarakhand-disaster-plan-doesnt-exist-CAG-warned-in-April/articleshow/20690268.cms&quot;&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt; to access &amp;nbsp;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
CAG had warned three years ago about damage to hills -Pradeep Thakur, The Times of India, 20 June, 2013, please &lt;a href=&quot;http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/CAG-had-warned-three-years-ago-about-damage-to-hills/articleshow/20674521.cms&quot;&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt; to access&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Report no.-5 of 2013-Union Government (Ministry of Home Affairs) - Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India on performance Audit of Disaster Preparedness in India, please &lt;a href=&quot;http://saiindia.gov.in/english/home/Our_Products/Audit_Report/Government_Wise/union_audit/recent_reports/union_performance/2013/Civil/Report_5/Report_5.html&quot;&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt; to access&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;strong&gt;Image Courtesy: Wikimedia Commons&lt;/strong&gt;, please &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kedarnath_Temple#/media/File:Kedarnath_Temple.jpg&quot;&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt; to access&lt;/div&gt;
&#039;,
		&#039;credit_writer&#039; =&gt; &#039;&#039;,
		&#039;article_img&#039; =&gt; &#039;im4change_75uttarakhand.jpg&#039;,
		&#039;article_img_thumb&#039; =&gt; &#039;im4change_75uttarakhand.jpg&#039;,
		&#039;status&#039; =&gt; (int) 1,
		&#039;show_on_home&#039; =&gt; (int) 1,
		&#039;lang&#039; =&gt; &#039;EN&#039;,
		&#039;category_id&#039; =&gt; (int) 4,
		&#039;tag_keyword&#039; =&gt; &#039;&#039;,
		&#039;seo_url&#039; =&gt; &#039;scale-of-2013-uttarakhand-disaster-could-have-been-lessened-says-cag-report-4677834&#039;,
		&#039;meta_title&#039; =&gt; &#039;&#039;,
		&#039;meta_keywords&#039; =&gt; &#039;&#039;,
		&#039;meta_description&#039; =&gt; &#039;&#039;,
		&#039;noindex&#039; =&gt; (int) 0,
		&#039;publish_date&#039; =&gt; object(Cake\I18n\FrozenDate) {},
		&#039;most_visit_section_id&#039; =&gt; null,
		&#039;article_big_img&#039; =&gt; null,
		&#039;liveid&#039; =&gt; (int) 4677834,
		&#039;created&#039; =&gt; object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
		&#039;modified&#039; =&gt; object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
		&#039;edate&#039; =&gt; &#039;&#039;,
		&#039;tags&#039; =&gt; [
			[maximum depth reached]
		],
		&#039;category&#039; =&gt; object(App\Model\Entity\Category) {},
		&#039;[new]&#039; =&gt; false,
		&#039;[accessible]&#039; =&gt; [
			[maximum depth reached]
		],
		&#039;[dirty]&#039; =&gt; [[maximum depth reached]],
		&#039;[original]&#039; =&gt; [[maximum depth reached]],
		&#039;[virtual]&#039; =&gt; [[maximum depth reached]],
		&#039;[hasErrors]&#039; =&gt; false,
		&#039;[errors]&#039; =&gt; [[maximum depth reached]],
		&#039;[invalid]&#039; =&gt; [[maximum depth reached]],
		&#039;[repository]&#039; =&gt; &#039;Articles&#039;
	
	},
	&#039;articleid&#039; =&gt; (int) 29777,
	&#039;metaTitle&#039; =&gt; &#039;NEWS ALERTS | Scale of 2013 Uttarakhand disaster could have been lessened, says CAG report&#039;,
	&#039;metaKeywords&#039; =&gt; &#039;flash flood,flash floods,flood,Landslides,uttarakhand&#039;,
	&#039;metaDesc&#039; =&gt; &#039;As Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh fight the fury of flood caused by annual northeast monsoon, a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) on the natural disaster in Uttarakhand, which took place in June 2013, has been made...&#039;,
	&#039;disp&#039; =&gt; &#039;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align:justify&quot;&gt;As Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh fight the fury of flood caused by annual northeast monsoon, a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) on the natural disaster in Uttarakhand, which took place in June 2013, has been made available in the&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.saiindia.gov.in/english/home/Our_Products/Audit_Report/Government_Wise/state_audit/recent_reports/Uttarakhand/2015/Report_2/2standAlone.html&quot; title=&quot;http://www.saiindia.gov.in/english/home/Our_Products/Audit_Report/Government_Wise/state_audit/recent_reports/Uttarakhand/2015/Report_2/2standAlone.html&quot;&gt;public domain&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;recently. The &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot; title=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot;&gt;CAG report&lt;/a&gt; discloses how various development activities in the state flouted guidelines issued by the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF), Expert Committee on glaciers and various other agencies.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align:justify&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The state of Uttarakhand did not follow the directions given by the MoEF regarding safe disposal of muck generated from excavation during the course of construction activities, points out &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot; title=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot;&gt;the report&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Unsafe and unscientific disposal of debris originating from excavations and other developmental activities increased the risks of landslides. Excavated debris, disposed of along the hill slopes, often slid down the slopes, thus, overrunning the agricultural fields and water resources, apart from causing significant loss of vegetation cover on vulnerable hill slopes. When such debris reached river bed and reservoirs, it caused the problem of aggradations and reduced reservoir capacity.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot; title=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot;&gt;CAG report&lt;/a&gt; finds that regulations for slope stabilisation, disposal of debris and river side aggradation were not in place to take care of the environmental issues as envisaged in the MoEF guidelines.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;No control was exercised over riverside constructions. Town-planning and building by-laws were not enforced properly. As a consequence, riverside constructions sustained most damage during the floods of June 2013, finds the &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot; title=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot;&gt;CAG report&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;There was no policy in place to regulate the use of explosives for infrastructure development works in the fragile Himalayan terrain. The state government of Uttarakhand paid little or no attention to the recommendations made by the Disaster Mitigation and Management Centre (DMMC), which asked for banning the use of explosives for infrastructure development in the fragile Himalayan terrain since such explosions led to instability in the surrounding rock strata, says the &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot; title=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot;&gt;CAG report&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot; title=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot;&gt;CAG report&lt;/a&gt; also throws light on the unpreparedness of the State Disaster Management Authority (SDMA) that aggravated the implications of the disaster, namely cloudburst followed by flash floods and landslides, which impacted Uttarakhand during the 3rd week of June, 2013. &amp;nbsp;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot; title=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot;&gt;CAG report&lt;/a&gt; states that the SDMA did not initiate the remedial measures as suggested by the Expert Committee on Glaciers and the DMMC prior to the June 2013 disaster taking into consideration the climatic changes and incidents of landslides that were occurring time and again in the state.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The state government of Uttarakhand had no State Disaster Management policy and guidelines prior to June 2013 disaster for the purpose of measures required for preventing and mitigating disaster and for providing relief to disaster affected persons. The SDMA was virtually non-functional since its inception and it had no State Disaster Management Plan before the disaster struck in June 2013. The Standard Operating Procedures were entirely absent, says the &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot; title=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot;&gt;CAG report&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Despite the occurrence of two major landslides in Uttarkashi and Rudraprayag districts due to unprecedented rainfall in 2012, the state government failed to take into account the underlying risk factors and undertake any corrective measures at any stage subsequently.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot; title=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot;&gt;CAG report&lt;/a&gt; mentions that river bed clearance and construction of embankments were undertaken during September-November 2013, although those works were promised to be finished much earlier following the disasters of 2010 and 2012.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Following the June 2013 disaster, it has been found by &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot; title=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot;&gt;the CAG report&lt;/a&gt; that Emergency Operation Centres both at the state and district levels were running without adequate manpower, equipment and essential communication networks. Following the floods, the District Disaster Management Authorities (DDMA) could not activate the command system to conduct search, rescue and carry out relief operations.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The State machinery and the district administration could not respond effectively due to poor weather and lack of preparedness after the disaster. The helipads were unavailable for smooth operation of air evacuation. Necessary search and rescue equipments like emergency lights, inflatable lights, solar lights, gas cutters, wood cutters etc. were unavailable in the District Emergency Operation Centres of the affected districts i.e. Bageshwar, Chamoli, Pithoragarh, Rudraprayag and Uttarkashi.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The rescue operation was hampered by non-availability of sound communication network. Coordination among various line departments was lacking. There was dearth of uniformity in authentication of losses and disbursement of relief. In the absence of grievance redressal mechanism, most complaints pertaining to financial relief could not be attended to.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The state government was unable to restore essential services like electricity, water and road connectivity on a permanent basis in the affected areas within prescribed time limits. Assessment of damages to infrastructure caused by floods was not undertaken properly, says the &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot; title=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot;&gt;CAG report&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The report has noted that non-identification of safe relief campsites put the lives of the affected people at risk. The state government did not have any mechanism in place to register the Char-Dham pilgrims who were trapped in the floods.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;It is worth noting that the performance audit was carried out by the CAG of India from September, 2014 to February, 2015 so as to assess the Government&amp;#39;s efforts in conducting rescue and relief operations, providing relief, restoring damaged infrastructure and rehabilitating affected people. It was tabled at the State Legislature Assembly of Uttarakhand on 3 November, 2015. The &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot; title=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot;&gt;CAG report&lt;/a&gt; has found that 4,209 human lives were lost and 19,309 houses were destroyed in the Uttarakhand flash floods and landslides during June, 2013. The disaster also killed 17,838 livestocks in the state.&lt;br /&gt;&amp;emsp;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;References:&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Report No. - 2 of 2015 Government of Uttarakhand - Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India on Performance Audit of Natural Disaster in Uttarakhand June 2013, please &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot; title=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot;&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt; to access&lt;br /&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;br /&gt;CAG pulls up Uttarakhand govt. over deluge, The Hindu, 7 November, 2015, please &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/other-states/cag-pulls-up-uttarakhand-govt-over-deluge/article7852955.ece&quot; title=&quot;http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/other-states/cag-pulls-up-uttarakhand-govt-over-deluge/article7852955.ece&quot;&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt; to access&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;CAG report slams Uttarakhand govt -Nikita Mehta, Livemint.com, 6 November, 2015, please &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livemint.com/Politics/F94DyJe65ya152ypFp15gO/CAG-report-slams-Uttarakhand-govt.html&quot; title=&quot;http://www.livemint.com/Politics/F94DyJe65ya152ypFp15gO/CAG-report-slams-Uttarakhand-govt.html&quot;&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt; to access&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Uttarakhand government&amp;#39;s slow response aggravated Kedar disaster, says CAG report -Gaurav Talwar, The Times of India, 4 November, 2015, please &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/latest-news-updates/uttarakhand-government039s-slow-response-aggravated-kedar-disaster-says-cag-report-gaurav-talwar-4677718.html&quot; title=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/latest-news-updates/uttarakhand-government039s-slow-response-aggravated-kedar-disaster-says-cag-report-gaurav-talwar-4677718.html&quot;&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt; to access&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align:justify&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align:justify&quot;&gt;When expedience trumps expertise-Ramachandra Guha, The Hindu, 11 July, 2013, please &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/when-expedience-trumps-expertise/article4902463.ece?homepage=true&quot; title=&quot;http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/when-expedience-trumps-expertise/article4902463.ece?homepage=true&quot;&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt; to access&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Dams and disasters in the Himalayas -Anirudh Burman, Live Mint, 9 July, 2013, please &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livemint.com/Opinion/tVqPyY4BOllrOMAWDqbRZN/Dams-and-disasters-in-Himalayas.html&quot; title=&quot;http://www.livemint.com/Opinion/tVqPyY4BOllrOMAWDqbRZN/Dams-and-disasters-in-Himalayas.html&quot;&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt; to access&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Blame game continues over Uttarakhand forecast -Kavita Upadhyay, The Hindu, 30 June, 2013, please &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/blame-game-continues-over-uttarakhand-forecast/article4866103.ece?homepage=true&quot; title=&quot;http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/blame-game-continues-over-uttarakhand-forecast/article4866103.ece?homepage=true&quot;&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt; to access&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Watershed moment -Himanshu Upadhyaya, Timescrest.com, 29 June, 2013, please &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.timescrest.com/coverstory/watershed-moment-10601&quot; title=&quot;http://www.timescrest.com/coverstory/watershed-moment-10601&quot;&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt; to access&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;CAG had warned last year about Uttarakhand crisis in making-Himanshu Upadhyaya, Governance Now, 27 June, 2013, please &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.governancenow.com/news/regular-story/cag-had-warned-last-year-about-uttarakhand-crisis-making&quot; title=&quot;http://www.governancenow.com/news/regular-story/cag-had-warned-last-year-about-uttarakhand-crisis-making&quot;&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt; to access&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Uttarakhand disaster plan doesn&amp;#39;t exist, CAG warned in April -Subodh Varma, The Times of India, 21 June, 2013, please &lt;a href=&quot;http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Uttarakhand-disaster-plan-doesnt-exist-CAG-warned-in-April/articleshow/20690268.cms&quot; title=&quot;http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Uttarakhand-disaster-plan-doesnt-exist-CAG-warned-in-April/articleshow/20690268.cms&quot;&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt; to access &amp;nbsp;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;CAG had warned three years ago about damage to hills -Pradeep Thakur, The Times of India, 20 June, 2013, please &lt;a href=&quot;http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/CAG-had-warned-three-years-ago-about-damage-to-hills/articleshow/20674521.cms&quot; title=&quot;http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/CAG-had-warned-three-years-ago-about-damage-to-hills/articleshow/20674521.cms&quot;&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt; to access&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Report no.-5 of 2013-Union Government (Ministry of Home Affairs) - Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India on performance Audit of Disaster Preparedness in India, please &lt;a href=&quot;http://saiindia.gov.in/english/home/Our_Products/Audit_Report/Government_Wise/union_audit/recent_reports/union_performance/2013/Civil/Report_5/Report_5.html&quot; title=&quot;http://saiindia.gov.in/english/home/Our_Products/Audit_Report/Government_Wise/union_audit/recent_reports/union_performance/2013/Civil/Report_5/Report_5.html&quot;&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt; to access&lt;br /&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Image Courtesy: Wikimedia Commons&lt;/strong&gt;, please &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kedarnath_Temple#/media/File:Kedarnath_Temple.jpg&quot; title=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kedarnath_Temple#/media/File:Kedarnath_Temple.jpg&quot;&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt; to access&lt;/div&gt;&#039;,
	&#039;lang&#039; =&gt; &#039;English&#039;,
	&#039;SITE_URL&#039; =&gt; &#039;https://im4change.in/&#039;,
	&#039;site_title&#039; =&gt; &#039;im4change&#039;,
	&#039;adminprix&#039; =&gt; &#039;admin&#039;
]
$article_current = object(App\Model\Entity\Article) {

	&#039;id&#039; =&gt; (int) 29777,
	&#039;title&#039; =&gt; &#039;Scale of 2013 Uttarakhand disaster could have been lessened, says CAG report&#039;,
	&#039;subheading&#039; =&gt; &#039;&#039;,
	&#039;description&#039; =&gt; &#039;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align:justify&quot;&gt;As Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh fight the fury of flood caused by annual northeast monsoon, a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) on the natural disaster in Uttarakhand, which took place in June 2013, has been made available in the&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.saiindia.gov.in/english/home/Our_Products/Audit_Report/Government_Wise/state_audit/recent_reports/Uttarakhand/2015/Report_2/2standAlone.html&quot;&gt;public domain&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;recently. The &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot;&gt;CAG report&lt;/a&gt; discloses how various development activities in the state flouted guidelines issued by the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF), Expert Committee on glaciers and various other agencies.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/div&gt;

&lt;div style=&quot;text-align:justify&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
The state of Uttarakhand did not follow the directions given by the MoEF regarding safe disposal of muck generated from excavation during the course of construction activities, points out &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot;&gt;the report&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Unsafe and unscientific disposal of debris originating from excavations and other developmental activities increased the risks of landslides. Excavated debris, disposed of along the hill slopes, often slid down the slopes, thus, overrunning the agricultural fields and water resources, apart from causing significant loss of vegetation cover on vulnerable hill slopes. When such debris reached river bed and reservoirs, it caused the problem of aggradations and reduced reservoir capacity.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
The &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot;&gt;CAG report&lt;/a&gt; finds that regulations for slope stabilisation, disposal of debris and river side aggradation were not in place to take care of the environmental issues as envisaged in the MoEF guidelines.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
No control was exercised over riverside constructions. Town-planning and building by-laws were not enforced properly. As a consequence, riverside constructions sustained most damage during the floods of June 2013, finds the &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot;&gt;CAG report&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
There was no policy in place to regulate the use of explosives for infrastructure development works in the fragile Himalayan terrain. The state government of Uttarakhand paid little or no attention to the recommendations made by the Disaster Mitigation and Management Centre (DMMC), which asked for banning the use of explosives for infrastructure development in the fragile Himalayan terrain since such explosions led to instability in the surrounding rock strata, says the &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot;&gt;CAG report&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
The &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot;&gt;CAG report&lt;/a&gt; also throws light on the unpreparedness of the State Disaster Management Authority (SDMA) that aggravated the implications of the disaster, namely cloudburst followed by flash floods and landslides, which impacted Uttarakhand during the 3rd week of June, 2013. &amp;nbsp;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
The &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot;&gt;CAG report&lt;/a&gt; states that the SDMA did not initiate the remedial measures as suggested by the Expert Committee on Glaciers and the DMMC prior to the June 2013 disaster taking into consideration the climatic changes and incidents of landslides that were occurring time and again in the state.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
The state government of Uttarakhand had no State Disaster Management policy and guidelines prior to June 2013 disaster for the purpose of measures required for preventing and mitigating disaster and for providing relief to disaster affected persons. The SDMA was virtually non-functional since its inception and it had no State Disaster Management Plan before the disaster struck in June 2013. The Standard Operating Procedures were entirely absent, says the &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot;&gt;CAG report&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Despite the occurrence of two major landslides in Uttarkashi and Rudraprayag districts due to unprecedented rainfall in 2012, the state government failed to take into account the underlying risk factors and undertake any corrective measures at any stage subsequently.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
The &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot;&gt;CAG report&lt;/a&gt; mentions that river bed clearance and construction of embankments were undertaken during September-November 2013, although those works were promised to be finished much earlier following the disasters of 2010 and 2012.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Following the June 2013 disaster, it has been found by &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot;&gt;the CAG report&lt;/a&gt; that Emergency Operation Centres both at the state and district levels were running without adequate manpower, equipment and essential communication networks. Following the floods, the District Disaster Management Authorities (DDMA) could not activate the command system to conduct search, rescue and carry out relief operations.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
The State machinery and the district administration could not respond effectively due to poor weather and lack of preparedness after the disaster. The helipads were unavailable for smooth operation of air evacuation. Necessary search and rescue equipments like emergency lights, inflatable lights, solar lights, gas cutters, wood cutters etc. were unavailable in the District Emergency Operation Centres of the affected districts i.e. Bageshwar, Chamoli, Pithoragarh, Rudraprayag and Uttarkashi.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
The rescue operation was hampered by non-availability of sound communication network. Coordination among various line departments was lacking. There was dearth of uniformity in authentication of losses and disbursement of relief. In the absence of grievance redressal mechanism, most complaints pertaining to financial relief could not be attended to.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
The state government was unable to restore essential services like electricity, water and road connectivity on a permanent basis in the affected areas within prescribed time limits. Assessment of damages to infrastructure caused by floods was not undertaken properly, says the &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot;&gt;CAG report&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
The report has noted that non-identification of safe relief campsites put the lives of the affected people at risk. The state government did not have any mechanism in place to register the Char-Dham pilgrims who were trapped in the floods.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
It is worth noting that the performance audit was carried out by the CAG of India from September, 2014 to February, 2015 so as to assess the Government&amp;#39;s efforts in conducting rescue and relief operations, providing relief, restoring damaged infrastructure and rehabilitating affected people. It was tabled at the State Legislature Assembly of Uttarakhand on 3 November, 2015. The &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot;&gt;CAG report&lt;/a&gt; has found that 4,209 human lives were lost and 19,309 houses were destroyed in the Uttarakhand flash floods and landslides during June, 2013. The disaster also killed 17,838 livestocks in the state.&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;emsp;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;References:&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Report No. - 2 of 2015 Government of Uttarakhand - Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India on Performance Audit of Natural Disaster in Uttarakhand June 2013, please &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot;&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt; to access&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;nbsp;&lt;br /&gt;
CAG pulls up Uttarakhand govt. over deluge, The Hindu, 7 November, 2015, please &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/other-states/cag-pulls-up-uttarakhand-govt-over-deluge/article7852955.ece&quot;&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt; to access&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
CAG report slams Uttarakhand govt -Nikita Mehta, Livemint.com, 6 November, 2015, please &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livemint.com/Politics/F94DyJe65ya152ypFp15gO/CAG-report-slams-Uttarakhand-govt.html&quot;&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt; to access&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Uttarakhand government&amp;#39;s slow response aggravated Kedar disaster, says CAG report -Gaurav Talwar, The Times of India, 4 November, 2015, please &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/latest-news-updates/uttarakhand-government039s-slow-response-aggravated-kedar-disaster-says-cag-report-gaurav-talwar-4677718.html&quot;&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt; to access&lt;/div&gt;

&lt;div style=&quot;text-align:justify&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/div&gt;

&lt;div style=&quot;text-align:justify&quot;&gt;When expedience trumps expertise-Ramachandra Guha, The Hindu, 11 July, 2013, please &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/when-expedience-trumps-expertise/article4902463.ece?homepage=true&quot;&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt; to access&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Dams and disasters in the Himalayas -Anirudh Burman, Live Mint, 9 July, 2013, please &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livemint.com/Opinion/tVqPyY4BOllrOMAWDqbRZN/Dams-and-disasters-in-Himalayas.html&quot;&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt; to access&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Blame game continues over Uttarakhand forecast -Kavita Upadhyay, The Hindu, 30 June, 2013, please &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/blame-game-continues-over-uttarakhand-forecast/article4866103.ece?homepage=true&quot;&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt; to access&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Watershed moment -Himanshu Upadhyaya, Timescrest.com, 29 June, 2013, please &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.timescrest.com/coverstory/watershed-moment-10601&quot;&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt; to access&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
CAG had warned last year about Uttarakhand crisis in making-Himanshu Upadhyaya, Governance Now, 27 June, 2013, please &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.governancenow.com/news/regular-story/cag-had-warned-last-year-about-uttarakhand-crisis-making&quot;&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt; to access&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Uttarakhand disaster plan doesn&amp;#39;t exist, CAG warned in April -Subodh Varma, The Times of India, 21 June, 2013, please &lt;a href=&quot;http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Uttarakhand-disaster-plan-doesnt-exist-CAG-warned-in-April/articleshow/20690268.cms&quot;&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt; to access &amp;nbsp;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
CAG had warned three years ago about damage to hills -Pradeep Thakur, The Times of India, 20 June, 2013, please &lt;a href=&quot;http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/CAG-had-warned-three-years-ago-about-damage-to-hills/articleshow/20674521.cms&quot;&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt; to access&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Report no.-5 of 2013-Union Government (Ministry of Home Affairs) - Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India on performance Audit of Disaster Preparedness in India, please &lt;a href=&quot;http://saiindia.gov.in/english/home/Our_Products/Audit_Report/Government_Wise/union_audit/recent_reports/union_performance/2013/Civil/Report_5/Report_5.html&quot;&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt; to access&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;strong&gt;Image Courtesy: Wikimedia Commons&lt;/strong&gt;, please &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kedarnath_Temple#/media/File:Kedarnath_Temple.jpg&quot;&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt; to access&lt;/div&gt;
&#039;,
	&#039;credit_writer&#039; =&gt; &#039;&#039;,
	&#039;article_img&#039; =&gt; &#039;im4change_75uttarakhand.jpg&#039;,
	&#039;article_img_thumb&#039; =&gt; &#039;im4change_75uttarakhand.jpg&#039;,
	&#039;status&#039; =&gt; (int) 1,
	&#039;show_on_home&#039; =&gt; (int) 1,
	&#039;lang&#039; =&gt; &#039;EN&#039;,
	&#039;category_id&#039; =&gt; (int) 4,
	&#039;tag_keyword&#039; =&gt; &#039;&#039;,
	&#039;seo_url&#039; =&gt; &#039;scale-of-2013-uttarakhand-disaster-could-have-been-lessened-says-cag-report-4677834&#039;,
	&#039;meta_title&#039; =&gt; &#039;&#039;,
	&#039;meta_keywords&#039; =&gt; &#039;&#039;,
	&#039;meta_description&#039; =&gt; &#039;&#039;,
	&#039;noindex&#039; =&gt; (int) 0,
	&#039;publish_date&#039; =&gt; object(Cake\I18n\FrozenDate) {},
	&#039;most_visit_section_id&#039; =&gt; null,
	&#039;article_big_img&#039; =&gt; null,
	&#039;liveid&#039; =&gt; (int) 4677834,
	&#039;created&#039; =&gt; object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
	&#039;modified&#039; =&gt; object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
	&#039;edate&#039; =&gt; &#039;&#039;,
	&#039;tags&#039; =&gt; [
		(int) 0 =&gt; object(Cake\ORM\Entity) {},
		(int) 1 =&gt; object(Cake\ORM\Entity) {},
		(int) 2 =&gt; object(Cake\ORM\Entity) {},
		(int) 3 =&gt; object(Cake\ORM\Entity) {},
		(int) 4 =&gt; object(Cake\ORM\Entity) {}
	],
	&#039;category&#039; =&gt; object(App\Model\Entity\Category) {},
	&#039;[new]&#039; =&gt; false,
	&#039;[accessible]&#039; =&gt; [
		&#039;*&#039; =&gt; true,
		&#039;id&#039; =&gt; false
	],
	&#039;[dirty]&#039; =&gt; [],
	&#039;[original]&#039; =&gt; [],
	&#039;[virtual]&#039; =&gt; [],
	&#039;[hasErrors]&#039; =&gt; false,
	&#039;[errors]&#039; =&gt; [],
	&#039;[invalid]&#039; =&gt; [],
	&#039;[repository]&#039; =&gt; &#039;Articles&#039;

}
$articleid = (int) 29777
$metaTitle = &#039;NEWS ALERTS | Scale of 2013 Uttarakhand disaster could have been lessened, says CAG report&#039;
$metaKeywords = &#039;flash flood,flash floods,flood,Landslides,uttarakhand&#039;
$metaDesc = &#039;As Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh fight the fury of flood caused by annual northeast monsoon, a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) on the natural disaster in Uttarakhand, which took place in June 2013, has been made...&#039;
$disp = &#039;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align:justify&quot;&gt;As Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh fight the fury of flood caused by annual northeast monsoon, a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) on the natural disaster in Uttarakhand, which took place in June 2013, has been made available in the&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.saiindia.gov.in/english/home/Our_Products/Audit_Report/Government_Wise/state_audit/recent_reports/Uttarakhand/2015/Report_2/2standAlone.html&quot; title=&quot;http://www.saiindia.gov.in/english/home/Our_Products/Audit_Report/Government_Wise/state_audit/recent_reports/Uttarakhand/2015/Report_2/2standAlone.html&quot;&gt;public domain&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;recently. The &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot; title=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot;&gt;CAG report&lt;/a&gt; discloses how various development activities in the state flouted guidelines issued by the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF), Expert Committee on glaciers and various other agencies.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align:justify&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The state of Uttarakhand did not follow the directions given by the MoEF regarding safe disposal of muck generated from excavation during the course of construction activities, points out &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot; title=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot;&gt;the report&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Unsafe and unscientific disposal of debris originating from excavations and other developmental activities increased the risks of landslides. Excavated debris, disposed of along the hill slopes, often slid down the slopes, thus, overrunning the agricultural fields and water resources, apart from causing significant loss of vegetation cover on vulnerable hill slopes. When such debris reached river bed and reservoirs, it caused the problem of aggradations and reduced reservoir capacity.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot; title=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot;&gt;CAG report&lt;/a&gt; finds that regulations for slope stabilisation, disposal of debris and river side aggradation were not in place to take care of the environmental issues as envisaged in the MoEF guidelines.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;No control was exercised over riverside constructions. Town-planning and building by-laws were not enforced properly. As a consequence, riverside constructions sustained most damage during the floods of June 2013, finds the &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot; title=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot;&gt;CAG report&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;There was no policy in place to regulate the use of explosives for infrastructure development works in the fragile Himalayan terrain. The state government of Uttarakhand paid little or no attention to the recommendations made by the Disaster Mitigation and Management Centre (DMMC), which asked for banning the use of explosives for infrastructure development in the fragile Himalayan terrain since such explosions led to instability in the surrounding rock strata, says the &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot; title=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot;&gt;CAG report&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot; title=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot;&gt;CAG report&lt;/a&gt; also throws light on the unpreparedness of the State Disaster Management Authority (SDMA) that aggravated the implications of the disaster, namely cloudburst followed by flash floods and landslides, which impacted Uttarakhand during the 3rd week of June, 2013. &amp;nbsp;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot; title=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot;&gt;CAG report&lt;/a&gt; states that the SDMA did not initiate the remedial measures as suggested by the Expert Committee on Glaciers and the DMMC prior to the June 2013 disaster taking into consideration the climatic changes and incidents of landslides that were occurring time and again in the state.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The state government of Uttarakhand had no State Disaster Management policy and guidelines prior to June 2013 disaster for the purpose of measures required for preventing and mitigating disaster and for providing relief to disaster affected persons. The SDMA was virtually non-functional since its inception and it had no State Disaster Management Plan before the disaster struck in June 2013. The Standard Operating Procedures were entirely absent, says the &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot; title=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot;&gt;CAG report&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Despite the occurrence of two major landslides in Uttarkashi and Rudraprayag districts due to unprecedented rainfall in 2012, the state government failed to take into account the underlying risk factors and undertake any corrective measures at any stage subsequently.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot; title=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot;&gt;CAG report&lt;/a&gt; mentions that river bed clearance and construction of embankments were undertaken during September-November 2013, although those works were promised to be finished much earlier following the disasters of 2010 and 2012.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Following the June 2013 disaster, it has been found by &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot; title=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot;&gt;the CAG report&lt;/a&gt; that Emergency Operation Centres both at the state and district levels were running without adequate manpower, equipment and essential communication networks. Following the floods, the District Disaster Management Authorities (DDMA) could not activate the command system to conduct search, rescue and carry out relief operations.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The State machinery and the district administration could not respond effectively due to poor weather and lack of preparedness after the disaster. The helipads were unavailable for smooth operation of air evacuation. Necessary search and rescue equipments like emergency lights, inflatable lights, solar lights, gas cutters, wood cutters etc. were unavailable in the District Emergency Operation Centres of the affected districts i.e. Bageshwar, Chamoli, Pithoragarh, Rudraprayag and Uttarkashi.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The rescue operation was hampered by non-availability of sound communication network. Coordination among various line departments was lacking. There was dearth of uniformity in authentication of losses and disbursement of relief. In the absence of grievance redressal mechanism, most complaints pertaining to financial relief could not be attended to.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The state government was unable to restore essential services like electricity, water and road connectivity on a permanent basis in the affected areas within prescribed time limits. Assessment of damages to infrastructure caused by floods was not undertaken properly, says the &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot; title=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot;&gt;CAG report&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The report has noted that non-identification of safe relief campsites put the lives of the affected people at risk. The state government did not have any mechanism in place to register the Char-Dham pilgrims who were trapped in the floods.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;It is worth noting that the performance audit was carried out by the CAG of India from September, 2014 to February, 2015 so as to assess the Government&amp;#39;s efforts in conducting rescue and relief operations, providing relief, restoring damaged infrastructure and rehabilitating affected people. It was tabled at the State Legislature Assembly of Uttarakhand on 3 November, 2015. The &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot; title=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot;&gt;CAG report&lt;/a&gt; has found that 4,209 human lives were lost and 19,309 houses were destroyed in the Uttarakhand flash floods and landslides during June, 2013. The disaster also killed 17,838 livestocks in the state.&lt;br /&gt;&amp;emsp;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;References:&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Report No. - 2 of 2015 Government of Uttarakhand - Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India on Performance Audit of Natural Disaster in Uttarakhand June 2013, please &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot; title=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf&quot;&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt; to access&lt;br /&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;br /&gt;CAG pulls up Uttarakhand govt. over deluge, The Hindu, 7 November, 2015, please &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/other-states/cag-pulls-up-uttarakhand-govt-over-deluge/article7852955.ece&quot; title=&quot;http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/other-states/cag-pulls-up-uttarakhand-govt-over-deluge/article7852955.ece&quot;&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt; to access&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;CAG report slams Uttarakhand govt -Nikita Mehta, Livemint.com, 6 November, 2015, please &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livemint.com/Politics/F94DyJe65ya152ypFp15gO/CAG-report-slams-Uttarakhand-govt.html&quot; title=&quot;http://www.livemint.com/Politics/F94DyJe65ya152ypFp15gO/CAG-report-slams-Uttarakhand-govt.html&quot;&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt; to access&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Uttarakhand government&amp;#39;s slow response aggravated Kedar disaster, says CAG report -Gaurav Talwar, The Times of India, 4 November, 2015, please &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/latest-news-updates/uttarakhand-government039s-slow-response-aggravated-kedar-disaster-says-cag-report-gaurav-talwar-4677718.html&quot; title=&quot;https://www.im4change.org/latest-news-updates/uttarakhand-government039s-slow-response-aggravated-kedar-disaster-says-cag-report-gaurav-talwar-4677718.html&quot;&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt; to access&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align:justify&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align:justify&quot;&gt;When expedience trumps expertise-Ramachandra Guha, The Hindu, 11 July, 2013, please &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/when-expedience-trumps-expertise/article4902463.ece?homepage=true&quot; title=&quot;http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/when-expedience-trumps-expertise/article4902463.ece?homepage=true&quot;&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt; to access&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Dams and disasters in the Himalayas -Anirudh Burman, Live Mint, 9 July, 2013, please &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livemint.com/Opinion/tVqPyY4BOllrOMAWDqbRZN/Dams-and-disasters-in-Himalayas.html&quot; title=&quot;http://www.livemint.com/Opinion/tVqPyY4BOllrOMAWDqbRZN/Dams-and-disasters-in-Himalayas.html&quot;&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt; to access&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Blame game continues over Uttarakhand forecast -Kavita Upadhyay, The Hindu, 30 June, 2013, please &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/blame-game-continues-over-uttarakhand-forecast/article4866103.ece?homepage=true&quot; title=&quot;http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/blame-game-continues-over-uttarakhand-forecast/article4866103.ece?homepage=true&quot;&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt; to access&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Watershed moment -Himanshu Upadhyaya, Timescrest.com, 29 June, 2013, please &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.timescrest.com/coverstory/watershed-moment-10601&quot; title=&quot;http://www.timescrest.com/coverstory/watershed-moment-10601&quot;&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt; to access&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;CAG had warned last year about Uttarakhand crisis in making-Himanshu Upadhyaya, Governance Now, 27 June, 2013, please &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.governancenow.com/news/regular-story/cag-had-warned-last-year-about-uttarakhand-crisis-making&quot; title=&quot;http://www.governancenow.com/news/regular-story/cag-had-warned-last-year-about-uttarakhand-crisis-making&quot;&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt; to access&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Uttarakhand disaster plan doesn&amp;#39;t exist, CAG warned in April -Subodh Varma, The Times of India, 21 June, 2013, please &lt;a href=&quot;http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Uttarakhand-disaster-plan-doesnt-exist-CAG-warned-in-April/articleshow/20690268.cms&quot; title=&quot;http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Uttarakhand-disaster-plan-doesnt-exist-CAG-warned-in-April/articleshow/20690268.cms&quot;&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt; to access &amp;nbsp;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;CAG had warned three years ago about damage to hills -Pradeep Thakur, The Times of India, 20 June, 2013, please &lt;a href=&quot;http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/CAG-had-warned-three-years-ago-about-damage-to-hills/articleshow/20674521.cms&quot; title=&quot;http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/CAG-had-warned-three-years-ago-about-damage-to-hills/articleshow/20674521.cms&quot;&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt; to access&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Report no.-5 of 2013-Union Government (Ministry of Home Affairs) - Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India on performance Audit of Disaster Preparedness in India, please &lt;a href=&quot;http://saiindia.gov.in/english/home/Our_Products/Audit_Report/Government_Wise/union_audit/recent_reports/union_performance/2013/Civil/Report_5/Report_5.html&quot; title=&quot;http://saiindia.gov.in/english/home/Our_Products/Audit_Report/Government_Wise/union_audit/recent_reports/union_performance/2013/Civil/Report_5/Report_5.html&quot;&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt; to access&lt;br /&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Image Courtesy: Wikimedia Commons&lt;/strong&gt;, please &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kedarnath_Temple#/media/File:Kedarnath_Temple.jpg&quot; title=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kedarnath_Temple#/media/File:Kedarnath_Temple.jpg&quot;&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt; to access&lt;/div&gt;&#039;
$lang = &#039;English&#039;
$SITE_URL = &#039;https://im4change.in/&#039;
$site_title = &#039;im4change&#039;
$adminprix = &#039;admin&#039;</pre><pre class="stack-trace">include - APP/Template/Layout/printlayout.ctp, line 8
Cake\View\View::_evaluate() - CORE/src/View/View.php, line 1413
Cake\View\View::_render() - CORE/src/View/View.php, line 1374
Cake\View\View::renderLayout() - CORE/src/View/View.php, line 927
Cake\View\View::render() - CORE/src/View/View.php, line 885
Cake\Controller\Controller::render() - CORE/src/Controller/Controller.php, line 791
Cake\Http\ActionDispatcher::_invoke() - CORE/src/Http/ActionDispatcher.php, line 126
Cake\Http\ActionDispatcher::dispatch() - CORE/src/Http/ActionDispatcher.php, line 94
Cake\Http\BaseApplication::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/BaseApplication.php, line 235
Cake\Http\Runner::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 65
Cake\Routing\Middleware\RoutingMiddleware::__invoke() - CORE/src/Routing/Middleware/RoutingMiddleware.php, line 162
Cake\Http\Runner::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 65
Cake\Routing\Middleware\AssetMiddleware::__invoke() - CORE/src/Routing/Middleware/AssetMiddleware.php, line 88
Cake\Http\Runner::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 65
Cake\Error\Middleware\ErrorHandlerMiddleware::__invoke() - CORE/src/Error/Middleware/ErrorHandlerMiddleware.php, line 96
Cake\Http\Runner::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 65
Cake\Http\Runner::run() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 51</pre></div></pre>news-alerts-57/scale-of-2013-uttarakhand-disaster-could-have-been-lessened-says-cag-report-4677834.html"/>
    <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"/>
    <link href="https://im4change.in/css/control.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css"
          media="all"/>
    <title>NEWS ALERTS | Scale of 2013 Uttarakhand disaster could have been lessened, says CAG report | Im4change.org</title>
    <meta name="description" content="As Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh fight the fury of flood caused by annual northeast monsoon, a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) on the natural disaster in Uttarakhand, which took place in June 2013, has been made..."/>
    <script src="https://im4change.in/js/jquery-1.10.2.js"></script>
    <script type="text/javascript" src="https://im4change.in/js/jquery-migrate.min.js"></script>
    <script language="javascript" type="text/javascript">

        $(document).ready(function () {
            var img = $("img")[0]; // Get my img elem
            var pic_real_width, pic_real_height;
            $("<img/>") // Make in memory copy of image to avoid css issues
                .attr("src", $(img).attr("src"))
                .load(function () {
                    pic_real_width = this.width;   // Note: $(this).width() will not
                    pic_real_height = this.height; // work for in memory images.
                });
        });
    </script>
    <style type="text/css">
        @media screen {
            div.divFooter {
                display: block;
            }
        }

        @media print {
            .printbutton {
                display: none !important;
            }
        }
    </style>
</head>
<body>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" border="0" width="98%" align="center">
    <tr>
        <td class="top_bg">
            <div class="divFooter">
                <img src="https://im4change.in/images/logo1.jpg" height="59" border="0"
                     alt="Resource centre on India's rural distress" style="padding-top:14px;"/>
            </div>

        </td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
        <td id="topspace">&nbsp;</td>
    </tr>

    <tr id="topspace">
        <td>&nbsp;</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
        <td height="50" style="border-bottom:1px solid #000; padding-top:10px;" class="printbutton">
            <form><input type="button" value=" Print this page "
                         onclick="window.print();return false;"/></form>
        </td>
    </tr>

    <tr>
        <td width="100%">
            <h1 class="news_headlines" style="font-style:normal">
                <strong>Scale of 2013 Uttarakhand disaster could have been lessened, says CAG report</strong></h1>
        </td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
        <td width="100%" style="font-family:Arial, 'Segoe Script', 'Segoe UI', sans-serif, serif"><font size="3">
                <div style="text-align:justify">As Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh fight the fury of flood caused by annual northeast monsoon, a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) on the natural disaster in Uttarakhand, which took place in June 2013, has been made available in the&nbsp;<a href="http://www.saiindia.gov.in/english/home/Our_Products/Audit_Report/Government_Wise/state_audit/recent_reports/Uttarakhand/2015/Report_2/2standAlone.html" title="http://www.saiindia.gov.in/english/home/Our_Products/Audit_Report/Government_Wise/state_audit/recent_reports/Uttarakhand/2015/Report_2/2standAlone.html">public domain</a>&nbsp;recently. The <a href="https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf" title="https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf">CAG report</a> discloses how various development activities in the state flouted guidelines issued by the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF), Expert Committee on glaciers and various other agencies.&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align:justify"><br />The state of Uttarakhand did not follow the directions given by the MoEF regarding safe disposal of muck generated from excavation during the course of construction activities, points out <a href="https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf" title="https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf">the report</a>.<br /><br />Unsafe and unscientific disposal of debris originating from excavations and other developmental activities increased the risks of landslides. Excavated debris, disposed of along the hill slopes, often slid down the slopes, thus, overrunning the agricultural fields and water resources, apart from causing significant loss of vegetation cover on vulnerable hill slopes. When such debris reached river bed and reservoirs, it caused the problem of aggradations and reduced reservoir capacity.<br /><br />The <a href="https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf" title="https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf">CAG report</a> finds that regulations for slope stabilisation, disposal of debris and river side aggradation were not in place to take care of the environmental issues as envisaged in the MoEF guidelines.<br /><br />No control was exercised over riverside constructions. Town-planning and building by-laws were not enforced properly. As a consequence, riverside constructions sustained most damage during the floods of June 2013, finds the <a href="https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf" title="https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf">CAG report</a>.<br /><br />There was no policy in place to regulate the use of explosives for infrastructure development works in the fragile Himalayan terrain. The state government of Uttarakhand paid little or no attention to the recommendations made by the Disaster Mitigation and Management Centre (DMMC), which asked for banning the use of explosives for infrastructure development in the fragile Himalayan terrain since such explosions led to instability in the surrounding rock strata, says the <a href="https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf" title="https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf">CAG report</a>.<br /><br />The <a href="https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf" title="https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf">CAG report</a> also throws light on the unpreparedness of the State Disaster Management Authority (SDMA) that aggravated the implications of the disaster, namely cloudburst followed by flash floods and landslides, which impacted Uttarakhand during the 3rd week of June, 2013. &nbsp;<br /><br />The <a href="https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf" title="https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf">CAG report</a> states that the SDMA did not initiate the remedial measures as suggested by the Expert Committee on Glaciers and the DMMC prior to the June 2013 disaster taking into consideration the climatic changes and incidents of landslides that were occurring time and again in the state.<br /><br />The state government of Uttarakhand had no State Disaster Management policy and guidelines prior to June 2013 disaster for the purpose of measures required for preventing and mitigating disaster and for providing relief to disaster affected persons. The SDMA was virtually non-functional since its inception and it had no State Disaster Management Plan before the disaster struck in June 2013. The Standard Operating Procedures were entirely absent, says the <a href="https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf" title="https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf">CAG report</a>.<br /><br />Despite the occurrence of two major landslides in Uttarkashi and Rudraprayag districts due to unprecedented rainfall in 2012, the state government failed to take into account the underlying risk factors and undertake any corrective measures at any stage subsequently.<br /><br />The <a href="https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf" title="https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf">CAG report</a> mentions that river bed clearance and construction of embankments were undertaken during September-November 2013, although those works were promised to be finished much earlier following the disasters of 2010 and 2012.<br /><br />Following the June 2013 disaster, it has been found by <a href="https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf" title="https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf">the CAG report</a> that Emergency Operation Centres both at the state and district levels were running without adequate manpower, equipment and essential communication networks. Following the floods, the District Disaster Management Authorities (DDMA) could not activate the command system to conduct search, rescue and carry out relief operations.<br /><br />The State machinery and the district administration could not respond effectively due to poor weather and lack of preparedness after the disaster. The helipads were unavailable for smooth operation of air evacuation. Necessary search and rescue equipments like emergency lights, inflatable lights, solar lights, gas cutters, wood cutters etc. were unavailable in the District Emergency Operation Centres of the affected districts i.e. Bageshwar, Chamoli, Pithoragarh, Rudraprayag and Uttarkashi.<br /><br />The rescue operation was hampered by non-availability of sound communication network. Coordination among various line departments was lacking. There was dearth of uniformity in authentication of losses and disbursement of relief. In the absence of grievance redressal mechanism, most complaints pertaining to financial relief could not be attended to.<br /><br />The state government was unable to restore essential services like electricity, water and road connectivity on a permanent basis in the affected areas within prescribed time limits. Assessment of damages to infrastructure caused by floods was not undertaken properly, says the <a href="https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf" title="https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf">CAG report</a>.<br /><br />The report has noted that non-identification of safe relief campsites put the lives of the affected people at risk. The state government did not have any mechanism in place to register the Char-Dham pilgrims who were trapped in the floods.<br /><br />It is worth noting that the performance audit was carried out by the CAG of India from September, 2014 to February, 2015 so as to assess the Government&#39;s efforts in conducting rescue and relief operations, providing relief, restoring damaged infrastructure and rehabilitating affected people. It was tabled at the State Legislature Assembly of Uttarakhand on 3 November, 2015. The <a href="https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf" title="https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf">CAG report</a> has found that 4,209 human lives were lost and 19,309 houses were destroyed in the Uttarakhand flash floods and landslides during June, 2013. The disaster also killed 17,838 livestocks in the state.<br />&emsp;<br /><strong><em>References:</em></strong><br /><br />Report No. - 2 of 2015 Government of Uttarakhand - Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India on Performance Audit of Natural Disaster in Uttarakhand June 2013, please <a href="https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf" title="https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf">click here</a> to access<br />&nbsp;<br />CAG pulls up Uttarakhand govt. over deluge, The Hindu, 7 November, 2015, please <a href="http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/other-states/cag-pulls-up-uttarakhand-govt-over-deluge/article7852955.ece" title="http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/other-states/cag-pulls-up-uttarakhand-govt-over-deluge/article7852955.ece">click here</a> to access<br /><br />CAG report slams Uttarakhand govt -Nikita Mehta, Livemint.com, 6 November, 2015, please <a href="http://www.livemint.com/Politics/F94DyJe65ya152ypFp15gO/CAG-report-slams-Uttarakhand-govt.html" title="http://www.livemint.com/Politics/F94DyJe65ya152ypFp15gO/CAG-report-slams-Uttarakhand-govt.html">click here</a> to access<br /><br />Uttarakhand government&#39;s slow response aggravated Kedar disaster, says CAG report -Gaurav Talwar, The Times of India, 4 November, 2015, please <a href="https://www.im4change.org/latest-news-updates/uttarakhand-government039s-slow-response-aggravated-kedar-disaster-says-cag-report-gaurav-talwar-4677718.html" title="https://www.im4change.org/latest-news-updates/uttarakhand-government039s-slow-response-aggravated-kedar-disaster-says-cag-report-gaurav-talwar-4677718.html">click here</a> to access</div><div style="text-align:justify">&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align:justify">When expedience trumps expertise-Ramachandra Guha, The Hindu, 11 July, 2013, please <a href="http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/when-expedience-trumps-expertise/article4902463.ece?homepage=true" title="http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/when-expedience-trumps-expertise/article4902463.ece?homepage=true">click here</a> to access<br /><br />Dams and disasters in the Himalayas -Anirudh Burman, Live Mint, 9 July, 2013, please <a href="http://www.livemint.com/Opinion/tVqPyY4BOllrOMAWDqbRZN/Dams-and-disasters-in-Himalayas.html" title="http://www.livemint.com/Opinion/tVqPyY4BOllrOMAWDqbRZN/Dams-and-disasters-in-Himalayas.html">click here</a> to access<br /><br />Blame game continues over Uttarakhand forecast -Kavita Upadhyay, The Hindu, 30 June, 2013, please <a href="http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/blame-game-continues-over-uttarakhand-forecast/article4866103.ece?homepage=true" title="http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/blame-game-continues-over-uttarakhand-forecast/article4866103.ece?homepage=true">click here</a> to access<br /><br />Watershed moment -Himanshu Upadhyaya, Timescrest.com, 29 June, 2013, please <a href="http://www.timescrest.com/coverstory/watershed-moment-10601" title="http://www.timescrest.com/coverstory/watershed-moment-10601">click here</a> to access<br /><br />CAG had warned last year about Uttarakhand crisis in making-Himanshu Upadhyaya, Governance Now, 27 June, 2013, please <a href="http://www.governancenow.com/news/regular-story/cag-had-warned-last-year-about-uttarakhand-crisis-making" title="http://www.governancenow.com/news/regular-story/cag-had-warned-last-year-about-uttarakhand-crisis-making">click here</a> to access<br /><br />Uttarakhand disaster plan doesn&#39;t exist, CAG warned in April -Subodh Varma, The Times of India, 21 June, 2013, please <a href="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Uttarakhand-disaster-plan-doesnt-exist-CAG-warned-in-April/articleshow/20690268.cms" title="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Uttarakhand-disaster-plan-doesnt-exist-CAG-warned-in-April/articleshow/20690268.cms">click here</a> to access &nbsp;<br /><br />CAG had warned three years ago about damage to hills -Pradeep Thakur, The Times of India, 20 June, 2013, please <a href="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/CAG-had-warned-three-years-ago-about-damage-to-hills/articleshow/20674521.cms" title="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/CAG-had-warned-three-years-ago-about-damage-to-hills/articleshow/20674521.cms">click here</a> to access<br /><br />Report no.-5 of 2013-Union Government (Ministry of Home Affairs) - Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India on performance Audit of Disaster Preparedness in India, please <a href="http://saiindia.gov.in/english/home/Our_Products/Audit_Report/Government_Wise/union_audit/recent_reports/union_performance/2013/Civil/Report_5/Report_5.html" title="http://saiindia.gov.in/english/home/Our_Products/Audit_Report/Government_Wise/union_audit/recent_reports/union_performance/2013/Civil/Report_5/Report_5.html">click here</a> to access<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<br /><strong>Image Courtesy: Wikimedia Commons</strong>, please <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kedarnath_Temple#/media/File:Kedarnath_Temple.jpg" title="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kedarnath_Temple#/media/File:Kedarnath_Temple.jpg">click here</a> to access</div>               </font>
        </td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
        <td>&nbsp;</td>
    </tr>

    <tr>
        <td height="50" style="border-top:1px solid #000; border-bottom:1px solid #000;padding-top:10px;">
            <form><input type="button" value=" Print this page "
                         onclick="window.print();return false;"/></form>
        </td>
    </tr>
</table></body>
</html>'

}
$cookies = []
$values = [
	(int) 0 => 'text/html; charset=UTF-8'
]
$name = 'Content-Type'
$first = true
$value = 'text/html; charset=UTF-8'
header - [internal], line ??
Cake\Http\ResponseEmitter::emitHeaders() - CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 181
Cake\Http\ResponseEmitter::emit() - CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 55
Cake\Http\Server::emit() - CORE/src/Http/Server.php, line 141
[main] - ROOT/webroot/index.php, line 39

<head>

    <link rel="canonical" href="<?php echo Configure::read('SITE_URL'); ?><?php echo $urlPrefix;?><?php echo $article_current->category->slug; ?>/<?php echo $article_current->seo_url; ?>.html"/>

    <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"/>

$viewFile = '/home/brlfuser/public_html/src/Template/Layout/printlayout.ctp'
$dataForView = [
	'article_current' => object(App\Model\Entity\Article) {

		'id' => (int) 29777,
		'title' => 'Scale of 2013 Uttarakhand disaster could have been lessened, says CAG report',
		'subheading' => '',
		'description' => '<div style="text-align:justify">As Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh fight the fury of flood caused by annual northeast monsoon, a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) on the natural disaster in Uttarakhand, which took place in June 2013, has been made available in the&nbsp;<a href="http://www.saiindia.gov.in/english/home/Our_Products/Audit_Report/Government_Wise/state_audit/recent_reports/Uttarakhand/2015/Report_2/2standAlone.html">public domain</a>&nbsp;recently. The <a href="https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf">CAG report</a> discloses how various development activities in the state flouted guidelines issued by the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF), Expert Committee on glaciers and various other agencies.&nbsp;</div>

<div style="text-align:justify"><br />
The state of Uttarakhand did not follow the directions given by the MoEF regarding safe disposal of muck generated from excavation during the course of construction activities, points out <a href="https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf">the report</a>.<br />
<br />
Unsafe and unscientific disposal of debris originating from excavations and other developmental activities increased the risks of landslides. Excavated debris, disposed of along the hill slopes, often slid down the slopes, thus, overrunning the agricultural fields and water resources, apart from causing significant loss of vegetation cover on vulnerable hill slopes. When such debris reached river bed and reservoirs, it caused the problem of aggradations and reduced reservoir capacity.<br />
<br />
The <a href="https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf">CAG report</a> finds that regulations for slope stabilisation, disposal of debris and river side aggradation were not in place to take care of the environmental issues as envisaged in the MoEF guidelines.<br />
<br />
No control was exercised over riverside constructions. Town-planning and building by-laws were not enforced properly. As a consequence, riverside constructions sustained most damage during the floods of June 2013, finds the <a href="https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf">CAG report</a>.<br />
<br />
There was no policy in place to regulate the use of explosives for infrastructure development works in the fragile Himalayan terrain. The state government of Uttarakhand paid little or no attention to the recommendations made by the Disaster Mitigation and Management Centre (DMMC), which asked for banning the use of explosives for infrastructure development in the fragile Himalayan terrain since such explosions led to instability in the surrounding rock strata, says the <a href="https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf">CAG report</a>.<br />
<br />
The <a href="https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf">CAG report</a> also throws light on the unpreparedness of the State Disaster Management Authority (SDMA) that aggravated the implications of the disaster, namely cloudburst followed by flash floods and landslides, which impacted Uttarakhand during the 3rd week of June, 2013. &nbsp;<br />
<br />
The <a href="https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf">CAG report</a> states that the SDMA did not initiate the remedial measures as suggested by the Expert Committee on Glaciers and the DMMC prior to the June 2013 disaster taking into consideration the climatic changes and incidents of landslides that were occurring time and again in the state.<br />
<br />
The state government of Uttarakhand had no State Disaster Management policy and guidelines prior to June 2013 disaster for the purpose of measures required for preventing and mitigating disaster and for providing relief to disaster affected persons. The SDMA was virtually non-functional since its inception and it had no State Disaster Management Plan before the disaster struck in June 2013. The Standard Operating Procedures were entirely absent, says the <a href="https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf">CAG report</a>.<br />
<br />
Despite the occurrence of two major landslides in Uttarkashi and Rudraprayag districts due to unprecedented rainfall in 2012, the state government failed to take into account the underlying risk factors and undertake any corrective measures at any stage subsequently.<br />
<br />
The <a href="https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf">CAG report</a> mentions that river bed clearance and construction of embankments were undertaken during September-November 2013, although those works were promised to be finished much earlier following the disasters of 2010 and 2012.<br />
<br />
Following the June 2013 disaster, it has been found by <a href="https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf">the CAG report</a> that Emergency Operation Centres both at the state and district levels were running without adequate manpower, equipment and essential communication networks. Following the floods, the District Disaster Management Authorities (DDMA) could not activate the command system to conduct search, rescue and carry out relief operations.<br />
<br />
The State machinery and the district administration could not respond effectively due to poor weather and lack of preparedness after the disaster. The helipads were unavailable for smooth operation of air evacuation. Necessary search and rescue equipments like emergency lights, inflatable lights, solar lights, gas cutters, wood cutters etc. were unavailable in the District Emergency Operation Centres of the affected districts i.e. Bageshwar, Chamoli, Pithoragarh, Rudraprayag and Uttarkashi.<br />
<br />
The rescue operation was hampered by non-availability of sound communication network. Coordination among various line departments was lacking. There was dearth of uniformity in authentication of losses and disbursement of relief. In the absence of grievance redressal mechanism, most complaints pertaining to financial relief could not be attended to.<br />
<br />
The state government was unable to restore essential services like electricity, water and road connectivity on a permanent basis in the affected areas within prescribed time limits. Assessment of damages to infrastructure caused by floods was not undertaken properly, says the <a href="https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf">CAG report</a>.<br />
<br />
The report has noted that non-identification of safe relief campsites put the lives of the affected people at risk. The state government did not have any mechanism in place to register the Char-Dham pilgrims who were trapped in the floods.<br />
<br />
It is worth noting that the performance audit was carried out by the CAG of India from September, 2014 to February, 2015 so as to assess the Government&#39;s efforts in conducting rescue and relief operations, providing relief, restoring damaged infrastructure and rehabilitating affected people. It was tabled at the State Legislature Assembly of Uttarakhand on 3 November, 2015. The <a href="https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf">CAG report</a> has found that 4,209 human lives were lost and 19,309 houses were destroyed in the Uttarakhand flash floods and landslides during June, 2013. The disaster also killed 17,838 livestocks in the state.<br />
&emsp;<br />
<strong><em>References:</em></strong><br />
<br />
Report No. - 2 of 2015 Government of Uttarakhand - Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India on Performance Audit of Natural Disaster in Uttarakhand June 2013, please <a href="https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf">click here</a> to access<br />
&nbsp;<br />
CAG pulls up Uttarakhand govt. over deluge, The Hindu, 7 November, 2015, please <a href="http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/other-states/cag-pulls-up-uttarakhand-govt-over-deluge/article7852955.ece">click here</a> to access<br />
<br />
CAG report slams Uttarakhand govt -Nikita Mehta, Livemint.com, 6 November, 2015, please <a href="http://www.livemint.com/Politics/F94DyJe65ya152ypFp15gO/CAG-report-slams-Uttarakhand-govt.html">click here</a> to access<br />
<br />
Uttarakhand government&#39;s slow response aggravated Kedar disaster, says CAG report -Gaurav Talwar, The Times of India, 4 November, 2015, please <a href="https://www.im4change.org/latest-news-updates/uttarakhand-government039s-slow-response-aggravated-kedar-disaster-says-cag-report-gaurav-talwar-4677718.html">click here</a> to access</div>

<div style="text-align:justify">&nbsp;</div>

<div style="text-align:justify">When expedience trumps expertise-Ramachandra Guha, The Hindu, 11 July, 2013, please <a href="http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/when-expedience-trumps-expertise/article4902463.ece?homepage=true">click here</a> to access<br />
<br />
Dams and disasters in the Himalayas -Anirudh Burman, Live Mint, 9 July, 2013, please <a href="http://www.livemint.com/Opinion/tVqPyY4BOllrOMAWDqbRZN/Dams-and-disasters-in-Himalayas.html">click here</a> to access<br />
<br />
Blame game continues over Uttarakhand forecast -Kavita Upadhyay, The Hindu, 30 June, 2013, please <a href="http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/blame-game-continues-over-uttarakhand-forecast/article4866103.ece?homepage=true">click here</a> to access<br />
<br />
Watershed moment -Himanshu Upadhyaya, Timescrest.com, 29 June, 2013, please <a href="http://www.timescrest.com/coverstory/watershed-moment-10601">click here</a> to access<br />
<br />
CAG had warned last year about Uttarakhand crisis in making-Himanshu Upadhyaya, Governance Now, 27 June, 2013, please <a href="http://www.governancenow.com/news/regular-story/cag-had-warned-last-year-about-uttarakhand-crisis-making">click here</a> to access<br />
<br />
Uttarakhand disaster plan doesn&#39;t exist, CAG warned in April -Subodh Varma, The Times of India, 21 June, 2013, please <a href="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Uttarakhand-disaster-plan-doesnt-exist-CAG-warned-in-April/articleshow/20690268.cms">click here</a> to access &nbsp;<br />
<br />
CAG had warned three years ago about damage to hills -Pradeep Thakur, The Times of India, 20 June, 2013, please <a href="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/CAG-had-warned-three-years-ago-about-damage-to-hills/articleshow/20674521.cms">click here</a> to access<br />
<br />
Report no.-5 of 2013-Union Government (Ministry of Home Affairs) - Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India on performance Audit of Disaster Preparedness in India, please <a href="http://saiindia.gov.in/english/home/Our_Products/Audit_Report/Government_Wise/union_audit/recent_reports/union_performance/2013/Civil/Report_5/Report_5.html">click here</a> to access<br />
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<br />
<strong>Image Courtesy: Wikimedia Commons</strong>, please <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kedarnath_Temple#/media/File:Kedarnath_Temple.jpg">click here</a> to access</div>
',
		'credit_writer' => '',
		'article_img' => 'im4change_75uttarakhand.jpg',
		'article_img_thumb' => 'im4change_75uttarakhand.jpg',
		'status' => (int) 1,
		'show_on_home' => (int) 1,
		'lang' => 'EN',
		'category_id' => (int) 4,
		'tag_keyword' => '',
		'seo_url' => 'scale-of-2013-uttarakhand-disaster-could-have-been-lessened-says-cag-report-4677834',
		'meta_title' => '',
		'meta_keywords' => '',
		'meta_description' => '',
		'noindex' => (int) 0,
		'publish_date' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenDate) {},
		'most_visit_section_id' => null,
		'article_big_img' => null,
		'liveid' => (int) 4677834,
		'created' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
		'modified' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
		'edate' => '',
		'tags' => [
			[maximum depth reached]
		],
		'category' => object(App\Model\Entity\Category) {},
		'[new]' => false,
		'[accessible]' => [
			[maximum depth reached]
		],
		'[dirty]' => [[maximum depth reached]],
		'[original]' => [[maximum depth reached]],
		'[virtual]' => [[maximum depth reached]],
		'[hasErrors]' => false,
		'[errors]' => [[maximum depth reached]],
		'[invalid]' => [[maximum depth reached]],
		'[repository]' => 'Articles'
	
	},
	'articleid' => (int) 29777,
	'metaTitle' => 'NEWS ALERTS | Scale of 2013 Uttarakhand disaster could have been lessened, says CAG report',
	'metaKeywords' => 'flash flood,flash floods,flood,Landslides,uttarakhand',
	'metaDesc' => 'As Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh fight the fury of flood caused by annual northeast monsoon, a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) on the natural disaster in Uttarakhand, which took place in June 2013, has been made...',
	'disp' => '<div style="text-align:justify">As Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh fight the fury of flood caused by annual northeast monsoon, a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) on the natural disaster in Uttarakhand, which took place in June 2013, has been made available in the&nbsp;<a href="http://www.saiindia.gov.in/english/home/Our_Products/Audit_Report/Government_Wise/state_audit/recent_reports/Uttarakhand/2015/Report_2/2standAlone.html" title="http://www.saiindia.gov.in/english/home/Our_Products/Audit_Report/Government_Wise/state_audit/recent_reports/Uttarakhand/2015/Report_2/2standAlone.html">public domain</a>&nbsp;recently. The <a href="https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf" title="https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf">CAG report</a> discloses how various development activities in the state flouted guidelines issued by the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF), Expert Committee on glaciers and various other agencies.&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align:justify"><br />The state of Uttarakhand did not follow the directions given by the MoEF regarding safe disposal of muck generated from excavation during the course of construction activities, points out <a href="https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf" title="https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf">the report</a>.<br /><br />Unsafe and unscientific disposal of debris originating from excavations and other developmental activities increased the risks of landslides. Excavated debris, disposed of along the hill slopes, often slid down the slopes, thus, overrunning the agricultural fields and water resources, apart from causing significant loss of vegetation cover on vulnerable hill slopes. When such debris reached river bed and reservoirs, it caused the problem of aggradations and reduced reservoir capacity.<br /><br />The <a href="https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf" title="https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf">CAG report</a> finds that regulations for slope stabilisation, disposal of debris and river side aggradation were not in place to take care of the environmental issues as envisaged in the MoEF guidelines.<br /><br />No control was exercised over riverside constructions. Town-planning and building by-laws were not enforced properly. As a consequence, riverside constructions sustained most damage during the floods of June 2013, finds the <a href="https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf" title="https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf">CAG report</a>.<br /><br />There was no policy in place to regulate the use of explosives for infrastructure development works in the fragile Himalayan terrain. The state government of Uttarakhand paid little or no attention to the recommendations made by the Disaster Mitigation and Management Centre (DMMC), which asked for banning the use of explosives for infrastructure development in the fragile Himalayan terrain since such explosions led to instability in the surrounding rock strata, says the <a href="https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf" title="https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf">CAG report</a>.<br /><br />The <a href="https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf" title="https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf">CAG report</a> also throws light on the unpreparedness of the State Disaster Management Authority (SDMA) that aggravated the implications of the disaster, namely cloudburst followed by flash floods and landslides, which impacted Uttarakhand during the 3rd week of June, 2013. &nbsp;<br /><br />The <a href="https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf" title="https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf">CAG report</a> states that the SDMA did not initiate the remedial measures as suggested by the Expert Committee on Glaciers and the DMMC prior to the June 2013 disaster taking into consideration the climatic changes and incidents of landslides that were occurring time and again in the state.<br /><br />The state government of Uttarakhand had no State Disaster Management policy and guidelines prior to June 2013 disaster for the purpose of measures required for preventing and mitigating disaster and for providing relief to disaster affected persons. The SDMA was virtually non-functional since its inception and it had no State Disaster Management Plan before the disaster struck in June 2013. The Standard Operating Procedures were entirely absent, says the <a href="https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf" title="https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf">CAG report</a>.<br /><br />Despite the occurrence of two major landslides in Uttarkashi and Rudraprayag districts due to unprecedented rainfall in 2012, the state government failed to take into account the underlying risk factors and undertake any corrective measures at any stage subsequently.<br /><br />The <a href="https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf" title="https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf">CAG report</a> mentions that river bed clearance and construction of embankments were undertaken during September-November 2013, although those works were promised to be finished much earlier following the disasters of 2010 and 2012.<br /><br />Following the June 2013 disaster, it has been found by <a href="https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf" title="https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf">the CAG report</a> that Emergency Operation Centres both at the state and district levels were running without adequate manpower, equipment and essential communication networks. Following the floods, the District Disaster Management Authorities (DDMA) could not activate the command system to conduct search, rescue and carry out relief operations.<br /><br />The State machinery and the district administration could not respond effectively due to poor weather and lack of preparedness after the disaster. The helipads were unavailable for smooth operation of air evacuation. Necessary search and rescue equipments like emergency lights, inflatable lights, solar lights, gas cutters, wood cutters etc. were unavailable in the District Emergency Operation Centres of the affected districts i.e. Bageshwar, Chamoli, Pithoragarh, Rudraprayag and Uttarkashi.<br /><br />The rescue operation was hampered by non-availability of sound communication network. Coordination among various line departments was lacking. There was dearth of uniformity in authentication of losses and disbursement of relief. In the absence of grievance redressal mechanism, most complaints pertaining to financial relief could not be attended to.<br /><br />The state government was unable to restore essential services like electricity, water and road connectivity on a permanent basis in the affected areas within prescribed time limits. Assessment of damages to infrastructure caused by floods was not undertaken properly, says the <a href="https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf" title="https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf">CAG report</a>.<br /><br />The report has noted that non-identification of safe relief campsites put the lives of the affected people at risk. The state government did not have any mechanism in place to register the Char-Dham pilgrims who were trapped in the floods.<br /><br />It is worth noting that the performance audit was carried out by the CAG of India from September, 2014 to February, 2015 so as to assess the Government&#39;s efforts in conducting rescue and relief operations, providing relief, restoring damaged infrastructure and rehabilitating affected people. It was tabled at the State Legislature Assembly of Uttarakhand on 3 November, 2015. The <a href="https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf" title="https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf">CAG report</a> has found that 4,209 human lives were lost and 19,309 houses were destroyed in the Uttarakhand flash floods and landslides during June, 2013. The disaster also killed 17,838 livestocks in the state.<br />&emsp;<br /><strong><em>References:</em></strong><br /><br />Report No. - 2 of 2015 Government of Uttarakhand - Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India on Performance Audit of Natural Disaster in Uttarakhand June 2013, please <a href="https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf" title="https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf">click here</a> to access<br />&nbsp;<br />CAG pulls up Uttarakhand govt. over deluge, The Hindu, 7 November, 2015, please <a href="http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/other-states/cag-pulls-up-uttarakhand-govt-over-deluge/article7852955.ece" title="http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/other-states/cag-pulls-up-uttarakhand-govt-over-deluge/article7852955.ece">click here</a> to access<br /><br />CAG report slams Uttarakhand govt -Nikita Mehta, Livemint.com, 6 November, 2015, please <a href="http://www.livemint.com/Politics/F94DyJe65ya152ypFp15gO/CAG-report-slams-Uttarakhand-govt.html" title="http://www.livemint.com/Politics/F94DyJe65ya152ypFp15gO/CAG-report-slams-Uttarakhand-govt.html">click here</a> to access<br /><br />Uttarakhand government&#39;s slow response aggravated Kedar disaster, says CAG report -Gaurav Talwar, The Times of India, 4 November, 2015, please <a href="https://www.im4change.org/latest-news-updates/uttarakhand-government039s-slow-response-aggravated-kedar-disaster-says-cag-report-gaurav-talwar-4677718.html" title="https://www.im4change.org/latest-news-updates/uttarakhand-government039s-slow-response-aggravated-kedar-disaster-says-cag-report-gaurav-talwar-4677718.html">click here</a> to access</div><div style="text-align:justify">&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align:justify">When expedience trumps expertise-Ramachandra Guha, The Hindu, 11 July, 2013, please <a href="http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/when-expedience-trumps-expertise/article4902463.ece?homepage=true" title="http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/when-expedience-trumps-expertise/article4902463.ece?homepage=true">click here</a> to access<br /><br />Dams and disasters in the Himalayas -Anirudh Burman, Live Mint, 9 July, 2013, please <a href="http://www.livemint.com/Opinion/tVqPyY4BOllrOMAWDqbRZN/Dams-and-disasters-in-Himalayas.html" title="http://www.livemint.com/Opinion/tVqPyY4BOllrOMAWDqbRZN/Dams-and-disasters-in-Himalayas.html">click here</a> to access<br /><br />Blame game continues over Uttarakhand forecast -Kavita Upadhyay, The Hindu, 30 June, 2013, please <a href="http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/blame-game-continues-over-uttarakhand-forecast/article4866103.ece?homepage=true" title="http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/blame-game-continues-over-uttarakhand-forecast/article4866103.ece?homepage=true">click here</a> to access<br /><br />Watershed moment -Himanshu Upadhyaya, Timescrest.com, 29 June, 2013, please <a href="http://www.timescrest.com/coverstory/watershed-moment-10601" title="http://www.timescrest.com/coverstory/watershed-moment-10601">click here</a> to access<br /><br />CAG had warned last year about Uttarakhand crisis in making-Himanshu Upadhyaya, Governance Now, 27 June, 2013, please <a href="http://www.governancenow.com/news/regular-story/cag-had-warned-last-year-about-uttarakhand-crisis-making" title="http://www.governancenow.com/news/regular-story/cag-had-warned-last-year-about-uttarakhand-crisis-making">click here</a> to access<br /><br />Uttarakhand disaster plan doesn&#39;t exist, CAG warned in April -Subodh Varma, The Times of India, 21 June, 2013, please <a href="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Uttarakhand-disaster-plan-doesnt-exist-CAG-warned-in-April/articleshow/20690268.cms" title="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Uttarakhand-disaster-plan-doesnt-exist-CAG-warned-in-April/articleshow/20690268.cms">click here</a> to access &nbsp;<br /><br />CAG had warned three years ago about damage to hills -Pradeep Thakur, The Times of India, 20 June, 2013, please <a href="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/CAG-had-warned-three-years-ago-about-damage-to-hills/articleshow/20674521.cms" title="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/CAG-had-warned-three-years-ago-about-damage-to-hills/articleshow/20674521.cms">click here</a> to access<br /><br />Report no.-5 of 2013-Union Government (Ministry of Home Affairs) - Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India on performance Audit of Disaster Preparedness in India, please <a href="http://saiindia.gov.in/english/home/Our_Products/Audit_Report/Government_Wise/union_audit/recent_reports/union_performance/2013/Civil/Report_5/Report_5.html" title="http://saiindia.gov.in/english/home/Our_Products/Audit_Report/Government_Wise/union_audit/recent_reports/union_performance/2013/Civil/Report_5/Report_5.html">click here</a> to access<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<br /><strong>Image Courtesy: Wikimedia Commons</strong>, please <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kedarnath_Temple#/media/File:Kedarnath_Temple.jpg" title="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kedarnath_Temple#/media/File:Kedarnath_Temple.jpg">click here</a> to access</div>',
	'lang' => 'English',
	'SITE_URL' => 'https://im4change.in/',
	'site_title' => 'im4change',
	'adminprix' => 'admin'
]
$article_current = object(App\Model\Entity\Article) {

	'id' => (int) 29777,
	'title' => 'Scale of 2013 Uttarakhand disaster could have been lessened, says CAG report',
	'subheading' => '',
	'description' => '<div style="text-align:justify">As Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh fight the fury of flood caused by annual northeast monsoon, a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) on the natural disaster in Uttarakhand, which took place in June 2013, has been made available in the&nbsp;<a href="http://www.saiindia.gov.in/english/home/Our_Products/Audit_Report/Government_Wise/state_audit/recent_reports/Uttarakhand/2015/Report_2/2standAlone.html">public domain</a>&nbsp;recently. The <a href="https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf">CAG report</a> discloses how various development activities in the state flouted guidelines issued by the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF), Expert Committee on glaciers and various other agencies.&nbsp;</div>

<div style="text-align:justify"><br />
The state of Uttarakhand did not follow the directions given by the MoEF regarding safe disposal of muck generated from excavation during the course of construction activities, points out <a href="https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf">the report</a>.<br />
<br />
Unsafe and unscientific disposal of debris originating from excavations and other developmental activities increased the risks of landslides. Excavated debris, disposed of along the hill slopes, often slid down the slopes, thus, overrunning the agricultural fields and water resources, apart from causing significant loss of vegetation cover on vulnerable hill slopes. When such debris reached river bed and reservoirs, it caused the problem of aggradations and reduced reservoir capacity.<br />
<br />
The <a href="https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf">CAG report</a> finds that regulations for slope stabilisation, disposal of debris and river side aggradation were not in place to take care of the environmental issues as envisaged in the MoEF guidelines.<br />
<br />
No control was exercised over riverside constructions. Town-planning and building by-laws were not enforced properly. As a consequence, riverside constructions sustained most damage during the floods of June 2013, finds the <a href="https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf">CAG report</a>.<br />
<br />
There was no policy in place to regulate the use of explosives for infrastructure development works in the fragile Himalayan terrain. The state government of Uttarakhand paid little or no attention to the recommendations made by the Disaster Mitigation and Management Centre (DMMC), which asked for banning the use of explosives for infrastructure development in the fragile Himalayan terrain since such explosions led to instability in the surrounding rock strata, says the <a href="https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf">CAG report</a>.<br />
<br />
The <a href="https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf">CAG report</a> also throws light on the unpreparedness of the State Disaster Management Authority (SDMA) that aggravated the implications of the disaster, namely cloudburst followed by flash floods and landslides, which impacted Uttarakhand during the 3rd week of June, 2013. &nbsp;<br />
<br />
The <a href="https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf">CAG report</a> states that the SDMA did not initiate the remedial measures as suggested by the Expert Committee on Glaciers and the DMMC prior to the June 2013 disaster taking into consideration the climatic changes and incidents of landslides that were occurring time and again in the state.<br />
<br />
The state government of Uttarakhand had no State Disaster Management policy and guidelines prior to June 2013 disaster for the purpose of measures required for preventing and mitigating disaster and for providing relief to disaster affected persons. The SDMA was virtually non-functional since its inception and it had no State Disaster Management Plan before the disaster struck in June 2013. The Standard Operating Procedures were entirely absent, says the <a href="https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf">CAG report</a>.<br />
<br />
Despite the occurrence of two major landslides in Uttarkashi and Rudraprayag districts due to unprecedented rainfall in 2012, the state government failed to take into account the underlying risk factors and undertake any corrective measures at any stage subsequently.<br />
<br />
The <a href="https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf">CAG report</a> mentions that river bed clearance and construction of embankments were undertaken during September-November 2013, although those works were promised to be finished much earlier following the disasters of 2010 and 2012.<br />
<br />
Following the June 2013 disaster, it has been found by <a href="https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf">the CAG report</a> that Emergency Operation Centres both at the state and district levels were running without adequate manpower, equipment and essential communication networks. Following the floods, the District Disaster Management Authorities (DDMA) could not activate the command system to conduct search, rescue and carry out relief operations.<br />
<br />
The State machinery and the district administration could not respond effectively due to poor weather and lack of preparedness after the disaster. The helipads were unavailable for smooth operation of air evacuation. Necessary search and rescue equipments like emergency lights, inflatable lights, solar lights, gas cutters, wood cutters etc. were unavailable in the District Emergency Operation Centres of the affected districts i.e. Bageshwar, Chamoli, Pithoragarh, Rudraprayag and Uttarkashi.<br />
<br />
The rescue operation was hampered by non-availability of sound communication network. Coordination among various line departments was lacking. There was dearth of uniformity in authentication of losses and disbursement of relief. In the absence of grievance redressal mechanism, most complaints pertaining to financial relief could not be attended to.<br />
<br />
The state government was unable to restore essential services like electricity, water and road connectivity on a permanent basis in the affected areas within prescribed time limits. Assessment of damages to infrastructure caused by floods was not undertaken properly, says the <a href="https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf">CAG report</a>.<br />
<br />
The report has noted that non-identification of safe relief campsites put the lives of the affected people at risk. The state government did not have any mechanism in place to register the Char-Dham pilgrims who were trapped in the floods.<br />
<br />
It is worth noting that the performance audit was carried out by the CAG of India from September, 2014 to February, 2015 so as to assess the Government&#39;s efforts in conducting rescue and relief operations, providing relief, restoring damaged infrastructure and rehabilitating affected people. It was tabled at the State Legislature Assembly of Uttarakhand on 3 November, 2015. The <a href="https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf">CAG report</a> has found that 4,209 human lives were lost and 19,309 houses were destroyed in the Uttarakhand flash floods and landslides during June, 2013. The disaster also killed 17,838 livestocks in the state.<br />
&emsp;<br />
<strong><em>References:</em></strong><br />
<br />
Report No. - 2 of 2015 Government of Uttarakhand - Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India on Performance Audit of Natural Disaster in Uttarakhand June 2013, please <a href="https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf">click here</a> to access<br />
&nbsp;<br />
CAG pulls up Uttarakhand govt. over deluge, The Hindu, 7 November, 2015, please <a href="http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/other-states/cag-pulls-up-uttarakhand-govt-over-deluge/article7852955.ece">click here</a> to access<br />
<br />
CAG report slams Uttarakhand govt -Nikita Mehta, Livemint.com, 6 November, 2015, please <a href="http://www.livemint.com/Politics/F94DyJe65ya152ypFp15gO/CAG-report-slams-Uttarakhand-govt.html">click here</a> to access<br />
<br />
Uttarakhand government&#39;s slow response aggravated Kedar disaster, says CAG report -Gaurav Talwar, The Times of India, 4 November, 2015, please <a href="https://www.im4change.org/latest-news-updates/uttarakhand-government039s-slow-response-aggravated-kedar-disaster-says-cag-report-gaurav-talwar-4677718.html">click here</a> to access</div>

<div style="text-align:justify">&nbsp;</div>

<div style="text-align:justify">When expedience trumps expertise-Ramachandra Guha, The Hindu, 11 July, 2013, please <a href="http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/when-expedience-trumps-expertise/article4902463.ece?homepage=true">click here</a> to access<br />
<br />
Dams and disasters in the Himalayas -Anirudh Burman, Live Mint, 9 July, 2013, please <a href="http://www.livemint.com/Opinion/tVqPyY4BOllrOMAWDqbRZN/Dams-and-disasters-in-Himalayas.html">click here</a> to access<br />
<br />
Blame game continues over Uttarakhand forecast -Kavita Upadhyay, The Hindu, 30 June, 2013, please <a href="http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/blame-game-continues-over-uttarakhand-forecast/article4866103.ece?homepage=true">click here</a> to access<br />
<br />
Watershed moment -Himanshu Upadhyaya, Timescrest.com, 29 June, 2013, please <a href="http://www.timescrest.com/coverstory/watershed-moment-10601">click here</a> to access<br />
<br />
CAG had warned last year about Uttarakhand crisis in making-Himanshu Upadhyaya, Governance Now, 27 June, 2013, please <a href="http://www.governancenow.com/news/regular-story/cag-had-warned-last-year-about-uttarakhand-crisis-making">click here</a> to access<br />
<br />
Uttarakhand disaster plan doesn&#39;t exist, CAG warned in April -Subodh Varma, The Times of India, 21 June, 2013, please <a href="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Uttarakhand-disaster-plan-doesnt-exist-CAG-warned-in-April/articleshow/20690268.cms">click here</a> to access &nbsp;<br />
<br />
CAG had warned three years ago about damage to hills -Pradeep Thakur, The Times of India, 20 June, 2013, please <a href="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/CAG-had-warned-three-years-ago-about-damage-to-hills/articleshow/20674521.cms">click here</a> to access<br />
<br />
Report no.-5 of 2013-Union Government (Ministry of Home Affairs) - Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India on performance Audit of Disaster Preparedness in India, please <a href="http://saiindia.gov.in/english/home/Our_Products/Audit_Report/Government_Wise/union_audit/recent_reports/union_performance/2013/Civil/Report_5/Report_5.html">click here</a> to access<br />
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<br />
<strong>Image Courtesy: Wikimedia Commons</strong>, please <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kedarnath_Temple#/media/File:Kedarnath_Temple.jpg">click here</a> to access</div>
',
	'credit_writer' => '',
	'article_img' => 'im4change_75uttarakhand.jpg',
	'article_img_thumb' => 'im4change_75uttarakhand.jpg',
	'status' => (int) 1,
	'show_on_home' => (int) 1,
	'lang' => 'EN',
	'category_id' => (int) 4,
	'tag_keyword' => '',
	'seo_url' => 'scale-of-2013-uttarakhand-disaster-could-have-been-lessened-says-cag-report-4677834',
	'meta_title' => '',
	'meta_keywords' => '',
	'meta_description' => '',
	'noindex' => (int) 0,
	'publish_date' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenDate) {},
	'most_visit_section_id' => null,
	'article_big_img' => null,
	'liveid' => (int) 4677834,
	'created' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
	'modified' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
	'edate' => '',
	'tags' => [
		(int) 0 => object(Cake\ORM\Entity) {},
		(int) 1 => object(Cake\ORM\Entity) {},
		(int) 2 => object(Cake\ORM\Entity) {},
		(int) 3 => object(Cake\ORM\Entity) {},
		(int) 4 => object(Cake\ORM\Entity) {}
	],
	'category' => object(App\Model\Entity\Category) {},
	'[new]' => false,
	'[accessible]' => [
		'*' => true,
		'id' => false
	],
	'[dirty]' => [],
	'[original]' => [],
	'[virtual]' => [],
	'[hasErrors]' => false,
	'[errors]' => [],
	'[invalid]' => [],
	'[repository]' => 'Articles'

}
$articleid = (int) 29777
$metaTitle = 'NEWS ALERTS | Scale of 2013 Uttarakhand disaster could have been lessened, says CAG report'
$metaKeywords = 'flash flood,flash floods,flood,Landslides,uttarakhand'
$metaDesc = 'As Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh fight the fury of flood caused by annual northeast monsoon, a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) on the natural disaster in Uttarakhand, which took place in June 2013, has been made...'
$disp = '<div style="text-align:justify">As Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh fight the fury of flood caused by annual northeast monsoon, a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) on the natural disaster in Uttarakhand, which took place in June 2013, has been made available in the&nbsp;<a href="http://www.saiindia.gov.in/english/home/Our_Products/Audit_Report/Government_Wise/state_audit/recent_reports/Uttarakhand/2015/Report_2/2standAlone.html" title="http://www.saiindia.gov.in/english/home/Our_Products/Audit_Report/Government_Wise/state_audit/recent_reports/Uttarakhand/2015/Report_2/2standAlone.html">public domain</a>&nbsp;recently. The <a href="https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf" title="https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf">CAG report</a> discloses how various development activities in the state flouted guidelines issued by the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF), Expert Committee on glaciers and various other agencies.&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align:justify"><br />The state of Uttarakhand did not follow the directions given by the MoEF regarding safe disposal of muck generated from excavation during the course of construction activities, points out <a href="https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf" title="https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf">the report</a>.<br /><br />Unsafe and unscientific disposal of debris originating from excavations and other developmental activities increased the risks of landslides. Excavated debris, disposed of along the hill slopes, often slid down the slopes, thus, overrunning the agricultural fields and water resources, apart from causing significant loss of vegetation cover on vulnerable hill slopes. When such debris reached river bed and reservoirs, it caused the problem of aggradations and reduced reservoir capacity.<br /><br />The <a href="https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf" title="https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf">CAG report</a> finds that regulations for slope stabilisation, disposal of debris and river side aggradation were not in place to take care of the environmental issues as envisaged in the MoEF guidelines.<br /><br />No control was exercised over riverside constructions. Town-planning and building by-laws were not enforced properly. As a consequence, riverside constructions sustained most damage during the floods of June 2013, finds the <a href="https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf" title="https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf">CAG report</a>.<br /><br />There was no policy in place to regulate the use of explosives for infrastructure development works in the fragile Himalayan terrain. The state government of Uttarakhand paid little or no attention to the recommendations made by the Disaster Mitigation and Management Centre (DMMC), which asked for banning the use of explosives for infrastructure development in the fragile Himalayan terrain since such explosions led to instability in the surrounding rock strata, says the <a href="https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf" title="https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf">CAG report</a>.<br /><br />The <a href="https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf" title="https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf">CAG report</a> also throws light on the unpreparedness of the State Disaster Management Authority (SDMA) that aggravated the implications of the disaster, namely cloudburst followed by flash floods and landslides, which impacted Uttarakhand during the 3rd week of June, 2013. &nbsp;<br /><br />The <a href="https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf" title="https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf">CAG report</a> states that the SDMA did not initiate the remedial measures as suggested by the Expert Committee on Glaciers and the DMMC prior to the June 2013 disaster taking into consideration the climatic changes and incidents of landslides that were occurring time and again in the state.<br /><br />The state government of Uttarakhand had no State Disaster Management policy and guidelines prior to June 2013 disaster for the purpose of measures required for preventing and mitigating disaster and for providing relief to disaster affected persons. The SDMA was virtually non-functional since its inception and it had no State Disaster Management Plan before the disaster struck in June 2013. The Standard Operating Procedures were entirely absent, says the <a href="https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf" title="https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf">CAG report</a>.<br /><br />Despite the occurrence of two major landslides in Uttarkashi and Rudraprayag districts due to unprecedented rainfall in 2012, the state government failed to take into account the underlying risk factors and undertake any corrective measures at any stage subsequently.<br /><br />The <a href="https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf" title="https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf">CAG report</a> mentions that river bed clearance and construction of embankments were undertaken during September-November 2013, although those works were promised to be finished much earlier following the disasters of 2010 and 2012.<br /><br />Following the June 2013 disaster, it has been found by <a href="https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf" title="https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf">the CAG report</a> that Emergency Operation Centres both at the state and district levels were running without adequate manpower, equipment and essential communication networks. Following the floods, the District Disaster Management Authorities (DDMA) could not activate the command system to conduct search, rescue and carry out relief operations.<br /><br />The State machinery and the district administration could not respond effectively due to poor weather and lack of preparedness after the disaster. The helipads were unavailable for smooth operation of air evacuation. Necessary search and rescue equipments like emergency lights, inflatable lights, solar lights, gas cutters, wood cutters etc. were unavailable in the District Emergency Operation Centres of the affected districts i.e. Bageshwar, Chamoli, Pithoragarh, Rudraprayag and Uttarkashi.<br /><br />The rescue operation was hampered by non-availability of sound communication network. Coordination among various line departments was lacking. There was dearth of uniformity in authentication of losses and disbursement of relief. In the absence of grievance redressal mechanism, most complaints pertaining to financial relief could not be attended to.<br /><br />The state government was unable to restore essential services like electricity, water and road connectivity on a permanent basis in the affected areas within prescribed time limits. Assessment of damages to infrastructure caused by floods was not undertaken properly, says the <a href="https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf" title="https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf">CAG report</a>.<br /><br />The report has noted that non-identification of safe relief campsites put the lives of the affected people at risk. The state government did not have any mechanism in place to register the Char-Dham pilgrims who were trapped in the floods.<br /><br />It is worth noting that the performance audit was carried out by the CAG of India from September, 2014 to February, 2015 so as to assess the Government&#39;s efforts in conducting rescue and relief operations, providing relief, restoring damaged infrastructure and rehabilitating affected people. It was tabled at the State Legislature Assembly of Uttarakhand on 3 November, 2015. The <a href="https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf" title="https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf">CAG report</a> has found that 4,209 human lives were lost and 19,309 houses were destroyed in the Uttarakhand flash floods and landslides during June, 2013. The disaster also killed 17,838 livestocks in the state.<br />&emsp;<br /><strong><em>References:</em></strong><br /><br />Report No. - 2 of 2015 Government of Uttarakhand - Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India on Performance Audit of Natural Disaster in Uttarakhand June 2013, please <a href="https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf" title="https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/Report%20No%202%20of%202015%20Government%20of%20Uttarakhand%20Report%20of%20the%20Comptroller%20and%20Auditor%20General%20of%20India%20on%20Performance%20Audit%20of%20Natural%20Disaster%20in%20Uttarakhand%20June%202013.pdf">click here</a> to access<br />&nbsp;<br />CAG pulls up Uttarakhand govt. over deluge, The Hindu, 7 November, 2015, please <a href="http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/other-states/cag-pulls-up-uttarakhand-govt-over-deluge/article7852955.ece" title="http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/other-states/cag-pulls-up-uttarakhand-govt-over-deluge/article7852955.ece">click here</a> to access<br /><br />CAG report slams Uttarakhand govt -Nikita Mehta, Livemint.com, 6 November, 2015, please <a href="http://www.livemint.com/Politics/F94DyJe65ya152ypFp15gO/CAG-report-slams-Uttarakhand-govt.html" title="http://www.livemint.com/Politics/F94DyJe65ya152ypFp15gO/CAG-report-slams-Uttarakhand-govt.html">click here</a> to access<br /><br />Uttarakhand government&#39;s slow response aggravated Kedar disaster, says CAG report -Gaurav Talwar, The Times of India, 4 November, 2015, please <a href="https://www.im4change.org/latest-news-updates/uttarakhand-government039s-slow-response-aggravated-kedar-disaster-says-cag-report-gaurav-talwar-4677718.html" title="https://www.im4change.org/latest-news-updates/uttarakhand-government039s-slow-response-aggravated-kedar-disaster-says-cag-report-gaurav-talwar-4677718.html">click here</a> to access</div><div style="text-align:justify">&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align:justify">When expedience trumps expertise-Ramachandra Guha, The Hindu, 11 July, 2013, please <a href="http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/when-expedience-trumps-expertise/article4902463.ece?homepage=true" title="http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/when-expedience-trumps-expertise/article4902463.ece?homepage=true">click here</a> to access<br /><br />Dams and disasters in the Himalayas -Anirudh Burman, Live Mint, 9 July, 2013, please <a href="http://www.livemint.com/Opinion/tVqPyY4BOllrOMAWDqbRZN/Dams-and-disasters-in-Himalayas.html" title="http://www.livemint.com/Opinion/tVqPyY4BOllrOMAWDqbRZN/Dams-and-disasters-in-Himalayas.html">click here</a> to access<br /><br />Blame game continues over Uttarakhand forecast -Kavita Upadhyay, The Hindu, 30 June, 2013, please <a href="http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/blame-game-continues-over-uttarakhand-forecast/article4866103.ece?homepage=true" title="http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/blame-game-continues-over-uttarakhand-forecast/article4866103.ece?homepage=true">click here</a> to access<br /><br />Watershed moment -Himanshu Upadhyaya, Timescrest.com, 29 June, 2013, please <a href="http://www.timescrest.com/coverstory/watershed-moment-10601" title="http://www.timescrest.com/coverstory/watershed-moment-10601">click here</a> to access<br /><br />CAG had warned last year about Uttarakhand crisis in making-Himanshu Upadhyaya, Governance Now, 27 June, 2013, please <a href="http://www.governancenow.com/news/regular-story/cag-had-warned-last-year-about-uttarakhand-crisis-making" title="http://www.governancenow.com/news/regular-story/cag-had-warned-last-year-about-uttarakhand-crisis-making">click here</a> to access<br /><br />Uttarakhand disaster plan doesn&#39;t exist, CAG warned in April -Subodh Varma, The Times of India, 21 June, 2013, please <a href="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Uttarakhand-disaster-plan-doesnt-exist-CAG-warned-in-April/articleshow/20690268.cms" title="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Uttarakhand-disaster-plan-doesnt-exist-CAG-warned-in-April/articleshow/20690268.cms">click here</a> to access &nbsp;<br /><br />CAG had warned three years ago about damage to hills -Pradeep Thakur, The Times of India, 20 June, 2013, please <a href="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/CAG-had-warned-three-years-ago-about-damage-to-hills/articleshow/20674521.cms" title="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/CAG-had-warned-three-years-ago-about-damage-to-hills/articleshow/20674521.cms">click here</a> to access<br /><br />Report no.-5 of 2013-Union Government (Ministry of Home Affairs) - Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India on performance Audit of Disaster Preparedness in India, please <a href="http://saiindia.gov.in/english/home/Our_Products/Audit_Report/Government_Wise/union_audit/recent_reports/union_performance/2013/Civil/Report_5/Report_5.html" title="http://saiindia.gov.in/english/home/Our_Products/Audit_Report/Government_Wise/union_audit/recent_reports/union_performance/2013/Civil/Report_5/Report_5.html">click here</a> to access<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<br /><strong>Image Courtesy: Wikimedia Commons</strong>, please <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kedarnath_Temple#/media/File:Kedarnath_Temple.jpg" title="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kedarnath_Temple#/media/File:Kedarnath_Temple.jpg">click here</a> to access</div>'
$lang = 'English'
$SITE_URL = 'https://im4change.in/'
$site_title = 'im4change'
$adminprix = 'admin'

include - APP/Template/Layout/printlayout.ctp, line 8
Cake\View\View::_evaluate() - CORE/src/View/View.php, line 1413
Cake\View\View::_render() - CORE/src/View/View.php, line 1374
Cake\View\View::renderLayout() - CORE/src/View/View.php, line 927
Cake\View\View::render() - CORE/src/View/View.php, line 885
Cake\Controller\Controller::render() - CORE/src/Controller/Controller.php, line 791
Cake\Http\ActionDispatcher::_invoke() - CORE/src/Http/ActionDispatcher.php, line 126
Cake\Http\ActionDispatcher::dispatch() - CORE/src/Http/ActionDispatcher.php, line 94
Cake\Http\BaseApplication::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/BaseApplication.php, line 235
Cake\Http\Runner::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 65
Cake\Routing\Middleware\RoutingMiddleware::__invoke() - CORE/src/Routing/Middleware/RoutingMiddleware.php, line 162
Cake\Http\Runner::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 65
Cake\Routing\Middleware\AssetMiddleware::__invoke() - CORE/src/Routing/Middleware/AssetMiddleware.php, line 88
Cake\Http\Runner::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 65
Cake\Error\Middleware\ErrorHandlerMiddleware::__invoke() - CORE/src/Error/Middleware/ErrorHandlerMiddleware.php, line 96
Cake\Http\Runner::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 65
Cake\Http\Runner::run() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 51

Scale of 2013 Uttarakhand disaster could have been lessened, says CAG report

As Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh fight the fury of flood caused by annual northeast monsoon, a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) on the natural disaster in Uttarakhand, which took place in June 2013, has been made available in the public domain recently. The CAG report discloses how various development activities in the state flouted guidelines issued by the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF), Expert Committee on glaciers and various other agencies.  The state of Uttarakhand did not follow the directions given by the MoEF regarding safe disposal of muck generated from excavation during the course of construction activities, points out the report. Unsafe and unscientific disposal of debris originating from excavations and other developmental activities increased the risks of landslides. Excavated debris, disposed of along the hill slopes, often slid down the slopes, thus, overrunning the agricultural fields and water resources, apart from causing significant loss of vegetation cover on vulnerable hill slopes. When such debris reached river bed and reservoirs, it caused the problem of aggradations and reduced reservoir capacity. The CAG report finds that regulations for slope stabilisation, disposal of debris and river side aggradation were not in place to take care of the environmental issues as envisaged in the MoEF guidelines. No control was exercised over riverside constructions. Town-planning and building by-laws were not enforced properly. As a consequence, riverside constructions sustained most damage during the floods of June 2013, finds the CAG report. There was no policy in place to regulate the use of explosives for infrastructure development works in the fragile Himalayan terrain. The state government of Uttarakhand paid little or no attention to the recommendations made by the Disaster Mitigation and Management Centre (DMMC), which asked for banning the use of explosives for infrastructure development in the fragile Himalayan terrain since such explosions led to instability in the surrounding rock strata, says the CAG report. The CAG report also throws light on the unpreparedness of the State Disaster Management Authority (SDMA) that aggravated the implications of the disaster, namely cloudburst followed by flash floods and landslides, which impacted Uttarakhand during the 3rd week of June, 2013.   The CAG report states that the SDMA did not initiate the remedial measures as suggested by the Expert Committee on Glaciers and the DMMC prior to the June 2013 disaster taking into consideration the climatic changes and incidents of landslides that were occurring time and again in the state. The state government of Uttarakhand had no State Disaster Management policy and guidelines prior to June 2013 disaster for the purpose of measures required for preventing and mitigating disaster and for providing relief to disaster affected persons. The SDMA was virtually non-functional since its inception and it had no State Disaster Management Plan before the disaster struck in June 2013. The Standard Operating Procedures were entirely absent, says the CAG report. Despite the occurrence of two major landslides in Uttarkashi and Rudraprayag districts due to unprecedented rainfall in 2012, the state government failed to take into account the underlying risk factors and undertake any corrective measures at any stage subsequently. The CAG report mentions that river bed clearance and construction of embankments were undertaken during September-November 2013, although those works were promised to be finished much earlier following the disasters of 2010 and 2012. Following the June 2013 disaster, it has been found by the CAG report that Emergency Operation Centres both at the state and district levels were running without adequate manpower, equipment and essential communication networks. Following the floods, the District Disaster Management Authorities (DDMA) could not activate the command system to conduct search, rescue and carry out relief operations. The State machinery and the district administration could not respond effectively due to poor weather and lack of preparedness after the disaster. The helipads were unavailable for smooth operation of air evacuation. Necessary search and rescue equipments like emergency lights, inflatable lights, solar lights, gas cutters, wood cutters etc. were unavailable in the District Emergency Operation Centres of the affected districts i.e. Bageshwar, Chamoli, Pithoragarh, Rudraprayag and Uttarkashi. The rescue operation was hampered by non-availability of sound communication network. Coordination among various line departments was lacking. There was dearth of uniformity in authentication of losses and disbursement of relief. In the absence of grievance redressal mechanism, most complaints pertaining to financial relief could not be attended to. The state government was unable to restore essential services like electricity, water and road connectivity on a permanent basis in the affected areas within prescribed time limits. Assessment of damages to infrastructure caused by floods was not undertaken properly, says the CAG report. The report has noted that non-identification of safe relief campsites put the lives of the affected people at risk. The state government did not have any mechanism in place to register the Char-Dham pilgrims who were trapped in the floods. It is worth noting that the performance audit was carried out by the CAG of India from September, 2014 to February, 2015 so as to assess the Government's efforts in conducting rescue and relief operations, providing relief, restoring damaged infrastructure and rehabilitating affected people. It was tabled at the State Legislature Assembly of Uttarakhand on 3 November, 2015. The CAG report has found that 4,209 human lives were lost and 19,309 houses were destroyed in the Uttarakhand flash floods and landslides during June, 2013. The disaster also killed 17,838 livestocks in the state.   References: Report No. - 2 of 2015 Government of Uttarakhand - Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India on Performance Audit of Natural Disaster in Uttarakhand June 2013, please click here to access   CAG pulls up Uttarakhand govt. over deluge, The Hindu, 7 November, 2015, please click here to access CAG report slams Uttarakhand govt -Nikita Mehta, Livemint.com, 6 November, 2015, please click here to access Uttarakhand government's slow response aggravated Kedar disaster, says CAG report -Gaurav Talwar, The Times of India, 4 November, 2015, please click here to access   When expedience trumps expertise-Ramachandra Guha, The Hindu, 11 July, 2013, please click here to access Dams and disasters in the Himalayas -Anirudh Burman, Live Mint, 9 July, 2013, please click here to access Blame game continues over Uttarakhand forecast -Kavita Upadhyay, The Hindu, 30 June, 2013, please click here to access Watershed moment -Himanshu Upadhyaya, Timescrest.com, 29 June, 2013, please click here to access CAG had warned last year about Uttarakhand crisis in making-Himanshu Upadhyaya, Governance Now, 27 June, 2013, please click here to access Uttarakhand disaster plan doesn't exist, CAG warned in April -Subodh Varma, The Times of India, 21 June, 2013, please click here to access   CAG had warned three years ago about damage to hills -Pradeep Thakur, The Times of India, 20 June, 2013, please click here to access Report no.-5 of 2013-Union Government (Ministry of Home Affairs) - Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India on performance Audit of Disaster Preparedness in India, please click here to access       Image Courtesy: Wikimedia Commons, please click here to access