CHANDIGARH: In a tragic incident, the 54-year-old joint director of the Haryana Agriculture Department Jagraj Dandi was on Thursday washed away in the Ganga in Uttarakhand. He had gone to Devprayag along with his family and was taking a bath in the Ganga when he slipped into the river and was swept away with the currents.
The Uttarakhand government immediately swung into action and launched search and rescue operation in the area. Dandi, who was working as joint director (administration) in the agriculture department, was taking a dip in the water when he slipped and got swept away.
As he slipped into the river, the family shouted for help immediately. The locals tried to save him but he was washed away with the flow of water. He had gone to Devprayag on Wednesday night with his wife Neeta and daughter. They first went to Rishikesh and then went to Sangam where pilgrims take a ritual dip and offer prayers to Ganga.
The local police, along with SDRF and NDRF were pressed into service for the search operation but have yet not been able to find Dandi’s body. An NDRF official said that a team was sent from Dehradun to Devprayag to search for the official who went missing at Devprayag Sangam, where the Alaknanda and Bhagirathi rivers converge in foothills of the Himalayas to form the Ganga. Due to heavy rains in the higher reaches, there has been a sharp increase in the water flow in Alaknanda and Bhagirathi.