JULY 5- Pegging the number of pilgrims missing after the recent natural calamity in north Indian state of Uttarakhand at more than 3000, Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna on Thursday said if they don’t surface till July 15 they will be presumed dead.
“Considering the magnitude of the crisis, the state cabinet has decided that if the missing persons are not found by July 15, we will presume that they are dead and the process of paying compensation to their next of kin will begin”, he said.
The exact number of persons missing after the tragedy is 3,064 and the deadline for finding them is July 15, he said.
He said the process of payment of compensation to the families of those killed in the disaster will hopefully be completed by July 30.
With the MeT department issuing a warning of heavy rains at places in Kumaon region over the next two days, Bahuguna said that for the next 50 hours the administration needs to be highly vigilant.
250 National Disaster Response Force personnel have been deployed in areas where heavy rains are expected, official sources here said.
According to the MeT department, heavy rains are likely to hit the state on July 5 and 6 especially areas in Nainital, Pithoragarh and Udhamsingh Nagar districts of Kumaon region.
Bahuguna said though there is no reason for alarm due to the MeT department’s warning, the administration is ready to deal with any emergency.
However, there has been no report so far of heavy rains from anywhere across Uttarakhand, a MeT official here said.
Munsyari in Pithoragarh district recorded the maximum of 31mm of rains followed by Ranikhet in Almora district with 28 mm of rains and Dehradun with 8.2 mm of showers, he said.
Intermittent rains at Joshimath and low visibility conditions in Guptkashi due to clouds continued to hamper relief operations in affected villages of Chamoli, Rudraprayag and Uttarkashi districts.
With major roads in these districts, which bore the brunt of the tragedy, still blocked or breached, the administration is depending exclusively on Indian Air Forc and private choppers to take relief material to villages that are cut off.
There are about 226 villages in these districts still awaiting relief.
Faced with foodgrain shortage, these villages have been waiting for the relief for the past ten days.
The dependence on choppers due to absence of motorable roads for transporting relief to affected villages has made the task difficult, officials requesting anonymity said.
INDIA TODAY
