Regarding the Kedarnath disaster of 2013, the High Court of Uttarakhand has directed the State Government to submit its reply in the court by December 18. Further, regarding the non-compliance of an order issued earlier by the court in this matter, the High Court has also directed the Chief Secretary of the State to file an affidavit in the court. The next date for the case taken up for hearing by the division bench of justice Rajiv Sharma and justice Alok Singh has been fixed on December 18.
It is pertinent to mention here that earlier during 2016, the high court had directed that the state government should deposit Rs 7,500 per month in the bank accounts of each of the minors who had lost adults in their families in the 2013 Kedarnath disaster. The court had directed that this amount should be deposited till the minors attain the age of majority. Apart from this, the Government was also to provide necessary compensation for reconstruction of homes and shops affected by the disaster.
The court had also ordered that an officer of the rank of senior superintendent of police should head five special teams to find the bodies of the disaster victims from Kedarnath and to conduct DNA tests for identification of the bodies. According to the order, the authorities were then also supposed to conduct the last rites of the bodies.
It will be recalled here that after the 2013 disaster, Delhi resident Ajay Gautam had filed a petition in the high court of Uttarakhand. In his petition, he had stated that about 4,200 people had gone missing in the Kedarnath valley after the said disaster.
The skeletal remains of about 600 of these disaster victims had been found but nearly four years after the disaster struck, the remains of more than 3000 disaster victims still remain buried in the area. The petitioner had reportedly stated that the state government is not taking the necessary measures to find and remove the remains of the disaster victims from this area.
In the past, the High Court had ordered the Government to extract the bodies/skeletal remains from the Kedarnath area and conduct the last rites for the victims but the government has not done much to facilitate this.
The petitioner is also stated to have submitted to the court that the State Government should take up this matter seriously. The remains of the disaster victims should be recovered and their last rites should be conducted, the petitioner has stated.