Uttarakhand Tragedy: 12 more bodies found in Kedarnath, search still on

Dehra Dun: As more decomposed bodies and skeletal remains tumble out nearly a year after disaster struck in Kedarnath, Chief Minister of Uttarakhand, Harish Rawat in an exclusive interview to this newspaper said that extensive combing operations were still on and DNA tests were being conducted on the bodies being recovered.

While 12 bodies were recovered on Saturday, 11 bodies were found by the villagers and special task force combing areas around the Kedar Valley taking the number to 22. There are reports of nearly 4,000 people missing.

Speaking to this newspaper on Friday at Dehra Dun, Mr Rawat said, “We never claimed that all the bodies have been found. There are tonnes of debris and rubble in the area and the forest is so dense that for nearly nine months it could not be accessed. There were large number of people who were swept off by the flash floods. Bodies are bound to be found.”

On Saturday the CM was admitted to AIIMS with pain in his neck and back following a rough helicopter ride. He was coming from Dehra Dun to Delhi, when his copter ran into bad weather. His condition is now stable.

Mr Rawat said that despite the government’s effort to compensate the victims, most of them want a government job. “And government job for all is not possible,” he added.

With just two days to go for the first anniversary of the tragedy, the state government constituted a special task force to conduct combing operations in the forests adjoining Kedarnath in search of bodies.