Terming as “baseless” the allegations by “anti social elements” that priority was given to the VVIP’s and outsiders during the rescue operations undertaken by the army after the floods hit Srinagar city , Lt Gen Saha said, “There was no way we could have distinguished an outsider or a local. our priority was to save maximum number of human lives.
“We had to first save the people who were caught in the farthest points. We adopted a logical sequence of evacuation and first helped the people who were at a greater risk.”
He said that people involved in stone pelting on soldiers deployed in the relief and rescue operations had come from the unaffected areas to create trouble.
“The people who were marooned in the floods wanted to be saved and we saved them. The people who pelted stones on the army personnel deployed in the rescue operations were the ones who had come to create mischief from the area that were the least affected with the floods,” he said.
Lt Gen Saha said, that the ammunition depots were not affected by the recent floods, but “some relocation had to be made”.
“Some of our units suffered some damage in the floods, but the arms and ammunitions are safe,” he said.
To carry out the emergency relief and rescue operations in the civilian areas, a makeshift helipad was made operational inside the cantonment area, as the floodwater had rendered two main helipads inside the cantonment defunct.
“Our main helipads were submerged and to carry out the emergency relief and rescue work we had to make a makeshift helipad operational and within hours of the catastrophe the relief and rescue work began from here” he said.