Uttarakhand Assembly Speaker Govind Singh Kunjwal, assessing the scale of the human tragedy unfolding in Uttarakhand, said the death toll may cross the 10,000 figure. This is 10 times more than the official figure given by the government, which places the death toll at 1,000.
Explaining how he arrived at the figure, he said, “Earlier, when I returned from a tour of Garhwal region, I believed the casualty figure could be 4,000 to 5,000. But now, as per my information and the bodies being seen by people, I can say the figure can cross 10,000.”
Locals living in the disaster impacted districts of Uttarkashi, Chamoli, Rudraprayag and Pithoragarh warn that over 400 villages have been wiped out along with 1,307 roads and 147 bridges. Food supplies are running short in over 600 villages with many villagers close to starvation in these districts, The worst-hit villages include Gavana, Agoda, Jamak, Naitala, Hina Siror, Dindsari, Bhatwadi, Sainj, Jakho, Raithal and Jhala. The civil administration has not been able to provide much relief with no one from the district administration having reached many of these villages.
Congress chief minister Vijay Bahuguna, who continues to play down the number of those killed, has come in for criticism, especially with the delay in rescue operations. Heavy rain in the upper catchment areas has seen the Bhagirathi river cross the danger mark. Families living next to the river are being evacuated.
Uttarakhand Met department head Anand Sharma blamed the melting snow in the upper reaches for the rise in the water level of all the rivers, including the Bhagirathi. But people living here insist that continuous heavy rains are also responsible for the rise in water levels. Questions are also being asked as to why 10,000 pilgrims were allowed to reach Kedarnath on June 15, when the Met department had warned of heavy rainfall. Questions are also being asked as to why tourism was allowed to grow at a rate of 140 per cent in the last decade with almost two crore tourists reported to have visited the Char Dham sites in 2011.
Meanwhile, a large number of bodies were cremated at Kedarnath though many continue to be trapped under the debris.
A team of five experts from the Archaeological Survey of India are expected to reach Kedarnath on Sunday to assess first hand the quantum of damage and what steps need to be undertaken in order to restore the shrine.
Entering the last phase of relief operations, the Indian Air Force completed the evacuation of stranded pilgrims in Harsil using 26 aircraft. “The IAF airlifted the last 12 pilgrims from Harsil today. Harsil is completely evacuated,” IAF spokesperson Wg Cdr Gerard Galway said.