Uttarakhand govt says around 3,000 still missing

Till Wednesday, the state government was saying that only 344 people were missing

More than 3,000 people are reportedly missing from various parts of flood-ravaged Uttarakhand, according to a tentative list prepared by the state government. “We have prepared a tentative list of missing persons. We will now try to find whether these people are alive or not, with the help of their mobile numbers,” said state chief secretary Subhash Kumar.

The government will try to locate the missing persons through their call details post June 14. This would help the government ascertain whether they actually visited the Char-dham pilgrim areas, one of the worst-affected regions in the hill state.

However, the government still maintains that a total of 560 people have died in the floods. Earlier, Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna had indicated the casualty figure might cross 1,000. A bulletin issued by the state government today said while 560 people were dead, 436 sustained injuries.

Till yesterday, the government was saying only 344 people were missing.

“Since we have cleared Kedarnath area and also most of the Badrinath area, chances are very bleak that those missing will be alive. We are also not ruling out chances of some who could be found at a later stage through combing operations,” said a top police official.

The chief secretary said the government would amend laws to declare those missing as dead in a month’s time in order to provide compensation.

“It takes seven years under normal process to declare a missing person dead under the civil code. But we will wait for only one month in order to provide compensation,” said Subhash Kumar.

He said he would approach other state governments in this regard so that compensation could be provided without delay.