Lucknow, July 2, 2013: A fortnight after Uttarakhand was devastated by rain and flash floods, 817 pilgrims from Uttar Pradesh are still missing. The number of stranded people from the State is based on the information gathered by the Relief Commissioner’s Office from all 75 districts.

Relief Commissioner Venkateswar Lu said more information is being collected from relief camps and Uttarakhand authorities. Mr. Lu said no details about the missing people are available.

On the total number of people from the 75 districts who went on the chaar dhaam pilgrimage to Uttarakhand, Mr. Lu said the details were being compiled. However, considering that 817 is the official number of missing people in Uttarakhand, there appears to be a mismatch between the figures provided by the Relief Commissioner’s Office and the control room set up at the Director General of Police’s Office here.

According to Inspector General (Law and Order) Raj Kumar Vishwakarma, 786 people from the State were reported missing as per the information available with the control room. Of these, 179 people were traced either to relief camps or had returned home. He added that the whereabouts of 607 pilgrims pilgrims were still not known.

Even as the exact number of missing people or the deceasedor those who may have returned home cannot be ascertained, according to official sources about 1.25 lakh pilgrims returning from the hill State were ferried by 450 Uttar Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation buses.

“Four hundred and fifty buses, pressed into service by the State, plied 2,700 times to and fro from the station of origin to the transit stations and transported 1.25 lakh people,” Home Secretary Kamal Saksena told journalists.

Denying the Government had failed to station officers or relief teams in Uttarakhand, Mr. Saksena said six officers who were posted there earlier were sent to the neighbouring State following its request. A team of 14 doctors was also sent, the Home Secretary added.

A cheque of Rs.25 crore from the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund was handed over to the authorities in Dehra Dun by Food and Civil Supplies Minister Rajendra Chaudhary. Mr. Saksena added that Rs.350 crore, which was due on Uttar Pradesh following the creation of Uttarakhand, has been transferred.

Meanwhile, the number of bodies retrieved from the Ganga and Sharda since the devastation in Uttarakhand rose to 32. While eight bodies were recovered in Allahabad district, seven were found in Muzaffarnagar. Bulandshahr district came next at six bodies, Bijnor four, Hapur two, Sambhal one and Baghpat one. Three bodies were recovered in the Sharda in Pilibhit district. Since all these bodies are unclaimed, official sources said the police in the districts concerned have been asked to strictly adhere to the guidelines of the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA). These include taking photographs, DNA samples, use of body bags and embalming of bodies in institutes where the facility exists. The eight bodies found in Allahabad were embalmed at the Swaroop Rani Nehru Medical College.

Source: The Hindu, DT. July 2, 2013.