New Delhi: Nearly a month after flash floods devastated Uttarakhand, the state government is all set to declare all those people who went missing after the tragedy as presumed dead.
Taking into account the number of the dead and those missing, the government may officially announce the death of between 5500 and 6000 people on Monday. The maximum number of death and missing are from the Kedarnath-Rambara-Gaurikund axis. The hamlet of Rambara was washed away completely by the sludge and debris that the swollen Mandakini River brought down from Kedarnath on June 16-17. The 14-kilometre-long stretch still remains strewn with decomposing bodies, reports said.
Amid the devastation, a flame of hope still flickers on in the hearts of some distraught relatives who are conducting a door to door search for their loved ones in Kedar valley area. Their prolonged wait has failed to dampen their hopes of reuniting with their loved ones alive. Holding the pictures of their missing family members and friends in their hands, they are searching for them from door to door in villages of valley. Meanwhile, efforts are on by the Army to open an alternate land route for pilgrims into Kedarnath. However, the new route from Sonprayag to Kedarnath via Vasuki Taal is said to be too treacherous for normal pilgrims. Also, the government may start an Amarnath yatra type arrangement for the Char Dham yatra where the number of pilgrims would be restricted to a set number every year.
As per Uttarakhand government officials, the compensation to the next to the kin of those killed in the flash floods and its aftermath will be to the tune of Rs5 lakh, including Rs2 lakh from the Prime Minister’s Relief Fund. The next to the kin of government servant killed on duty wil get Rs10 lakh.
Dehradun: Uttarakhand
Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna rejected Bharatiya Janata Party leader
Narendra Modi’s proposal and said that the Kedarnath temple will be
rebuild by state government, reports said on Wednesday.
Last week Modi had met Vijay Bahuguna and offered to rebuild the Kedarnath temple complex, destroyed in the deluge.
Modi had tweeted about the
rebuild proposition after his meeting with Uttarakhand CM Vijay
Bahuguna. “Met Vijay Bahuguna ji. Conveyed to him that Gujarat is ready
to take responsibility of renovating the Kedarnath temple complex,” he
wrote on the micro-blogging site.
Before meeting Bahuguna, Modi spent the day visiting relief camps
and carrying out an aerial survey of the places affected by the floods.
He described the destruction at Uttarakhand as a national catastrophe.
Source:ZN
Guptkashi: As the wait for news about their loved ones turns from days into a week, desperate relatives of people stranded in Uttarakhand on Sunday asked authorities to try to shoot video footages of relief camps run by them in the hope of sighting their kin. Despite the best efforts of the administration in a multi-agency operation, some 22,000 people are still stranded in affected areas following massive floods and landslide triggered by monsoon rains last Sunday. "The government should shoot video footage of relief camps at Jungle Chatti, Gauri Kund and share it with the public," said Satya Prakash Mangal from Kota in Rajasthan. He is in search of his sister and brother-in-law, who are untraceable since June 16.
Mangal said inquiries at Jolly Grant airport in Dehradun where the relief planes are landing and numerous calls to helplines have yielded no clue so far. "I have spoken to countless pilgrims who have been brought back from affected areas. I have shown them photographs of my sister and her husband," he said, adding, "But none was able to give me a ray of hope. He said the visual evidence from the video footage of relief camps shown to them can serve as an assurance that due care of their dear ones is being taken. Several anxious families camping in Uttarakhand also endorse the suggestion of video footages of relief camps.
As the toll creeps up, there is foreboding among the relatives of missing persons. Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna said on Saturday that the death toll is likely to be around 1,000. "May be they are alright and on their way back. But it would be good to know that it is so," said Bhagwati Lal Sukhwal from Rajasthan, whose relatives were part of a 12-member group that had gone on a pilgrimage. "Three members of that group managed to contact us. They are safe. But what about the rest?" he asked. The distraught families are banking on the administration for the whereabouts of their dear ones. Indeed, there are eyewitness accounts of the horrific situation in the Kedarnath Valley, but the hope these people still stand tall against all odds. PTI
