| Publication |
2014.
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| Summary/Abstract |
Uttarakhand is one of the youngest states of India, formed just 14 years ago on 9 November 2000. It is also home to some of the most sacred shrines - Yamnotri, Gangotri, Badrinath and Kedarnath. One of these four sacred dhams of the Hindus, Kedarnath, was in the news for the devastating floods that struck it and the adjoining hills last year on June 16. It took some time for the extent of the calamity to hit home. The first person on the scene was an ex-Indian Air Force (IAF) pilot, Sqn Ldr Bhupinder VrC (fondly called Bhupi in the IAF) who was flying a civil charter helicopter in the area. Bhupinder was asked by the civil administration to fly to Kedarnath and Rambara to check what was wrong as all contact had been lost with the civil administration. In the words of Bhupinder,
"…I got a shock of my life as Rambara, a huge place, did not exist at all." This set in motion a flurry of activity, resulting in the mounting of perhaps the greatest heli-lift and rotary wing relief operation in the history of aviation.
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