Chief secretary Jayantkumar Banthia on Wednesday admitted that 171 persons from Maharashtra, who had gone to Uttarakhand, are still missing.
“The state government is making every effort to find them, but still we are unable to make any contact with them,” Mr Banthia said.
He said that though the rescue work at Uttarakhand has ended, senior officials from the state are still there to figure out the whereabouts of the missing persons from Maharashtra. Inspector-general of registration and controller of stamps, S. Chokalingam was sent on Sunday to replace principal secretary of environment department R.A. Rajeev.
Last week, chief minister Prithviraj Chavan has said that 204 people from state are missing and efforts are on to establish contact with them. Mr Banthia said that the numbers had come down to 171 people. “We have decided not to announce the deaths yet, as local authorities of Uttarakhand will do this. According to law, only after seven years can the missing persons could be announced as dead, but in exceptional cases, this can be done,” the chief secretary said.
Meanwhile, minister of state Suresh Dhas, who stayed in Uttarakhand for around two weeks to coordinate the rescue work, said, “I have recommended to the chief minister to make it necessary for people to inform their concerned tehsildar if
they are travelling to any other state. I have also suggested that these people must have travel insurance for their own welfare.”