PIONEER EDGE NEWS SERVICE / Uttarkashi
With the multi-agency search operation having failed to unravel the mystery of the 24-year-old MBA student Babita Pandey’s disappearance while on her Dayara Bugyal trek, the tense district administration has roped in the Nehru Institute of Mountaineering (NIM) into it. Notably, Ramnagar resident Babita had gone missing at around 11 AM on May 29 and remains untraced. It is learnt that a specialised, high-altitude NIM team has reached the meadow and started its search operation for the missing trekker.
Meanwhile, the teams from NDRF, SDRF, Police department, Forest department, Revenue department, ITBP and District Disaster Management Authority’s Quick Response Team have intensified their joint operation on the directive of the district magistrate, Prashant Arya. These teams have been scouting dense forests, deep ravines, water bodies and other inaccessible mountainous areas across the alpine meadows from dawn to dusk for the past several days, but all their efforts have so far come a cropper. “Now, the induction of the NIM team comprising seasoned mountaineers into the search operation is expected to find out some clues which will eventually help unravel the disappearance mystery of the young female trekker,” said sources close to the Uttarkashi DM.
