The skeletal remains of 41 persons have been cremated so far after collection of their DNA samples in the Kedar valley by the special task force teams after their discovery during the recent combing operation.
The State Government had recently formed Special Task Force teams to search for the remains of the June 2013 disaster victims in the forest areas of Kedar valley. Moreover, taking suo moto notice of media reports of the discovery of the skeletal remains a year after the disaster, the State Human Rights Commission has asked the State Government to file a reply, explaining why it had called off the search for bodies when human skeletons are still being recovered from the Kedar valley. The commission also asked the state government to file details of the human remains found by the special task force created by the state government. Meanwhile, Garhwal Range DIG Amit Sinha said that a fresh combing operation was launched recently to look for the people who went missing during last year's disaster. The three teams consisting of around 12 State Disaster Response Force personnel, mountaineers and Uttarakhand police are conducting the combing operations since Sunday. These teams will cover the entire region from Sonprayag to Kedarnath. The team had discovered six skeletons on June 11, 20 on June 13, nine on June 14, two on June 15 and four skeletons on June 16. Before cremating the skeletal remains their photographs and DNA samples were taken by the team, he added. DIG GS Martolia who is heading a team consisting members SDRF personnel, mountaineers and Uttarakhand police combing the forests of Kedar valley said that the teams are conducting intensive search operation for human remains in Rambada area. large portion of the area has been covered by the team. The team is covering one and half km area per day so that intensive combing operation can be conducted to search for
the remains.
After reports of skeletons of those who died in last year's disaster being found in Jungle Chatti area of Kedar valley emerged, CM Rawat directed the Chief Secretary Subhash Kumar to constitute a Special Task Force for conducting intensive combing operation in the forest area.