National Disaster Management Agency (NDMA) member and nodal officer for relief and rescue operations in rain-ravaged Uttarakhand VK Duggal on Tuesday called the statement by NDMA secretary on missing persons an assumption and appealed the media not to give unnecessary attention to it.
He clarified that the authorities would be able to make the data about missing persons public only after scrutinising that. "We are scrutinising the missing persons' data and will be able to make it public by July 8," Duggal said.
He further added, "A team of 200 members, comprising Army, NDRF, Uttarakhand Police, doctors, Shantikunj volunteers have been dispatched for Kedarnath by choppers."
"The team will extricate the bodies lying in between Gaurikund and Kedarnath and cremate the bodies after collecting details about their identification and DNA samples," the officer remarked.
The State Government has announced rescue operation is over except few hundred, including local residents of Badrinath and Mana those are rescued by Wednesday.
He made it clear that being a member of NDMA he has submitted a letter to the State Government that National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) team has completed its task. He, however, clarified that 43 NDRF personnel have been sent as part of 200-memberteam for cremation work will be there. He further added that NDRF members will stay here and if the State Government wants their service then they can re-deploy.
He said, "They are now focusing on Munsyari and Dharchula of Pithoragarh district, where around 800 people are supposed to be rescued but could not be rescued on Tuesday because of inclement weather. Meanwhile, we managed to rescue 110 people despite rough weather."
He further said, "During review meeting of infrastructural damage, the State Government has come to the conclusion that 10-12 bridges were completely washed away. We have spoken to Garden Ridge, a company based in West Bengal that builds makeshift bridges for defence. They readily agreed to provide 19 bridges to the Uttarakhand Government. Its size would vary from 40 feet to 80 feet. State would be able to rebuild the connectivity, which has been washed away due to cloud burst, in short span."