Fresh supplies airlifted to Dzongu

18-20 SORTIES TO BE CARRIED OUT IN THE NEXT THREE DAYS, 3 TONNES OF ESSENTIAL COMMODITIES TO REACH QUAKE AFFECTED UPPER DZONGU IN PREPARATION FOR WINTER
GANGTOK, 20 Dec: With the onset of winters, stocking of ration in earthquake hit North Sikkim has become top priority for the state government. Keeping this in mind, the Land Revenue and Disaster Management Department, in coordination with Pawan Hans helicopter service and STDC, has begun airlifting essential commodities to remote areas of Dzongu still cut off from road access.
Around 18 to 20 sorties will be flown over the next three days to air-drop over 3 tonnes of essential commodities to earthquake affected Upper Dzongu. It may be recalled that the last batch of supplies was airlifted to the area in October.

The flights began today with Captain RS Brar and Co- pilot, Captain Sriniwas, flying seven sorties to villages such as Tholung, Sakyong, Bey and Pentong. The chopper was laden with 300 kgs of rice, fuel, edible oil, vegetables, salt and pulses in each sortie in the Bell-206, 7-seater chopper.
Captain Brar, while speaking to NOW!, informed that specialized flying and a lot of skill and experience is required to fly a helicopter in the narrow valleys and turbulent winds common to Dzongu. The Captain informed that since these areas were still inaccessible by road and because even human carriage was fraught with dangers, the only option was to airdrop essential commodities.
SDM, Mangan, PW Lepcha, who was coordinating the sorties from Mangan helipad informed that the ration being sent to these villages would supplement existing stocks since the ration airdropped by Indian Army in October had still not run out. However, with the threat of supplies eventually exhausting and poor visibility conditions during winters making air sorties impossible, the government decided to use the clear skies at present to refurbish stocks well ahead of time.
He commended the diligence with which STDC and Pawan Hands responded to the call, even bringing in a veteran pilot from Punjab to coordinate the sorties which is a difficult task keeping in mind the unpredictable weather and unstable landing pads in Upper Dzongu.
It was also informed that at Tholung, which is one of the most difficult areas to access even from air, the Domchyot Puja has begun for which the monastery had to be provided with adequate supplies and the head lama, Kongshobu flown to the monastery to lead the prayers.
The Sakyong-Pentong Zilla Panchayat, Toknam Lepcha, who was also at Mangan helipad today, told NOW! that the people of his village were extremely grateful towards the State government for arranging these sorties as the present supplies would have lasted only a few weeks more, by when the weather might not be as considerate.
“This supply will prove very helpful to the people in our villages as it is still inaccessible by road and attempting to carry these heavy loads on human backs has caused many injuries to porters who have to negotiate inhospitable terrain.
“It is a good sign and we now want the state government to concentrate on developing the roads since it is the only lifeline we have. We tried carrying essential commodities to these villages but many porters were injured in the still active landslides. The ground here is still unstable and rock falls and mud slips are now common occurrences here,” he added.