Officials stranded in Darma valley

The officials, however, are safe with the locals, ITBP officials and CPWD officers who are taking good care of them, the DM said.The group includes the chief horticulture officer, deputy district veterinary officer, district employment officer and the district fishery officer with their assistants and fisheries experts from Nainital, he said.

A group of officials which had gone to train villagers in Darma valley in horticulture and fisheries has got stranded there amid heavy rains.

The group has been stuck there for five days since a key bridge Kanchoti village was washed away on June 16 amid heavy rains, cutting off several villages in the valley from the district headquarters, Pithoragarh District Magistrate Anand Swaroop said.

As it may take some time to reconstruct the bridge, the stranded officials will be airlifted on Tuesday, Swaroop said. The officials, however, are safe with the locals, ITBP officials and CPWD officers who are taking good care of them, the DM said.

The group includes the chief horticulture officer, deputy district veterinary officer, district employment officer and the district fishery officer with their assistants and fisheries experts from Nainital, he said. ''Over 35 villages of the upper and lower Darma and Chaundas valleys have been affected by the washing away of the bridge," '' said a local villager. The Pithoragarh DM, however, said the administration is trying to develop an alternative way to the valley to be used by locals till the bridge at Kanchoti is reconstructed.

''We will not let the villagers suffer from any shortage of essentials,'' he said.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)