Uttarakhand: 1500 still stranded, rescue operations to end today

Rescue officials are hopeful of wrapping up operations in Uttarakhand today, where another 1500 people are stil stranded in the areas of Badrinath and Harsil. This will of course be mostly dependent on weather conditions in the state. Uttarakhand Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna who said that the number of dead in the tragedy ‘may never be known’ added that at least 3,000 people were still missing in the state. [caption id=“attachment_917585” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Smita Sharma/IBN-7[/caption] Attention is now turning to the disposal of bodies in the state, even as fears of disease and epidemic rise. A team of 200 people, consisting of officials of various departments, including police, health, animal husbandry experts and sanitation, will be sent to Kedarnath to collect DNA samples of bodies before the last rites are conducted, said Bahuguna. Rains on Sunday affected the National Disaster Response Force’s (NDRF) plans to reach Kedarnath town and extricate the dead buried in the rubble and mud after the flash floods and landslides that ravaged the town. “NDRF team had planned to go to Kedarnath town with heavy equipments to extricate the bodies, but the heavy lift helicopters could not take off with the equipment due to bad weather,” M Sashidhar Reddy, Vice Chairman of National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) told reporters in Delhi. The Uttarakhand government has also requested the central government for 100 tonnes of bleaching powder to help dispose of the carcasses of animals killed in the floods, a health ministry official said on Sunday. State Assembly Speaker Govind Singh Kunjwal had stated on Saturday that the number of those killed could breach the 10,000 mark but the Chief Minister had said the figure was incorrect. With inputs from agencies