Army rescues Pakistani golf team, Nepal Ambassador from flood-affected Srinagar

New Delhi: The Army said it has rescued a 28-member Pakistani golf team and the Ambassador of Nepal from the flood-affected areas of Srinagar.

The Pakistani team was there to take part in a SAARC golf tournament while the 17-member Nepalese team was there for official work, Army officials said here.

The Army has deployed more than 20,000 troops in 220 columns for rescue operations and asked all its units deployed there to help out people in distress. The IAF has pressed 61 aircraft in action for the purpose, they said.

"Armed forces and NDRF have so far rescued 47,227 persons in different regions of the state. Army has deployed 220 columns of its personnel for rescue and relief operations, in which 135 columns are deployed in Srinagar region and 85 columns in Jammu region," a Defence Ministry release said.

In order to meet the shortage of food in flood-affected areas, cooked eatables are being sent from Delhi, Ahmedabad and Hyderabad on a large scale, it said.

So far, 451 sorties have been undertaken by helicopters and aircraft of Air Force and 563 tonnes of relief materials have been dropped by it.

The Army has also brought in 200 more assault boats from places such as Bhatinda, Jalandhar and other areas to help in rescuing the stranded people in Srinagar and other affected areas, they said.

The Army officials said that till yesterday, it was felt that the troops were short of boats but with the induction of these 200 boats, the shortages have been met adequately.

Telecom services slowly being restored in Kashmir valley

Telecom services are slowly being restored with operators resuming network connectivity in various parts of the region.

Around 58 base transceiver stations (BTS) or mobile towers of BSNL and Aircel are functioning now along with 10 landline exchanges of the state-run operator.

Vodafone has also been able to restore connectivity in some parts of Jammu and Kashmir, especially in Srinagar, Anantnag, Qazigund, Mattan, Avantipura and Ashumukam.

Vodafone said extra talk-time credit is being provided to ensure low balance doesn't prevent them from getting connected with their near and dear ones.

Bharti Airtel said it has also restored some of its sites.

The telecom operators have roaming arrangements with each other so customers of all are getting connectivity.

Bharti Airtel in a filing to BSE said its network has been down in some parts of Jammu and Kashmir as a result of the unprecedented flooding there; company's teams have been able to manage to revive several parts of the network there.

The company is constantly monitoring the situation and is working with the authorities to normalise the services in the affected areas at the earliest possible.

The company believe that this temporary disruption will not cause any material loss in revenues or to its assets.

A BSNL official said that it has extended broadband facility to Srinagar airport and also set up three PCOs at the airport where people can make free calls.

The official said that tomorrow the company will try to restore 45-50 more base transceiver stations (BTS).

Taking stock of the situation, BSNL Chairman and Managing Director A N Rai has said that all out efforts are being made on war footing for restoration of BSNL telecom network.

He said no effort is being spared for restoration of BSNL network by bringing satellite-based services (DSPT) by diverting resources from other circles of BSNL.

"10 VSATs have been airlifted to Srinagar from Bangalore yesterday night. In Poonch district, efforts are underway to restore telecom services with the help of V SAT," Rai said.

Rai added that Barjula BTS and exchange have been restored on OFC and BSNL is trying to restore one BSC at Srinagar, which will result in restoration of nearly 20 BTSs.

Destruction of telecom network has impeded rescue operations in the Jammu and Kashmir valley, which is facing one of the worst floods in six decades.

Meanwhile, telecom operator Aircel said in a statement, "Aircel offers free calls to all its postpaid and prepaid J&K customers for the next two days, the 10th and 11th of September 2014, in its support towards the natural calamity faced in J&K."

The statement added that it is working together with the local administration and the Army to restore 2G network in the city and to ensure no outages reoccur on their 3G network which is presently up and running in Srinagar.

Aircel has offered its network to all other mobile service operators to help the people of J&K to connect with their families and friends.

It has also set up mobile charging units & calling booths to offer the stranded flood victims the facility to make free calls to their homes/families and friends.

The booths are equipped with handsets, sufficient talktime and mobile charging units to enable free calls.