Following on the media reports about thousands of bodies lying in-between Gaurikund and Kedarnath especially in Rambara, Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna has categorically said that 200-member team comprising Army, Uttarakhand police, Health, Animal Husbandry and sanitation staff is being sent along with modern equipment to both Kedarnath and Rambara by air.
They will retrieve the bodies from the debris and cremate them there. For this they would build a temporary helipad at Rambara as well.
Talking to the media, Bahuguna said that more than 200 pilgrims were evacuated from Badrinath on Sunday and around 1100 pilgrims are yet to be evacuated.
Now providing adequate food, medical care, disposal of bodies in affected areas and transportation of relief material are uphill tasks but he stressed that Government would do it at any cost. The cremation of bodies at Rambara too is likely to start in a couple of days, he told reporters here after a meeting of top officials to review the current situation in the flood-ravaged State.
Ambiguity prevailed on the 15th day of the calamity over the number of people killed with conflicting casualty figures doing the rounds.Commenting on the State Assembly Speaker Govind Singh Kunjwal's statement that death toll may cross 10000 mark, the CM emphatically said that the death toll may cross the 1,000 mark.
He made it clear that the State has been making public the figure on the basis of bodies recovered. Without retrieving the bodies Government can’t make any comment on it so whatever Government has said is the actual figure.
With the majority of pilgrims evacuated from Badrinath, disposal of numerous bodies lying in affected areas and transportation of relief material to locals in flooded villages pose fresh challenges to authorities.
"Meanwhile we have instructed district administration to make optimum use of food grains and even local people want to come out the transportation can be arranged for them too," said Bahuguna to the press as he concluded the meeting.