Uttarakhand floods: 10,000 dead? Congress squabbles over body count

The Uttarakhand Congress is playing politics over the bodies of flood victims in the state.

While Uttarakhand chief minister Vijay Bahuguna has been insisting that the official death toll is under 600 and has also asserted that the precise figure would be known only after the debris is removed, state assembly speaker Govind Singh Kunjwal on Saturday said that more than 10,000 people could have perished in the floods.

“On the basis of inputs that I have been receiving from the locals, I think the death toll could be more than 10,000,” Kunjwal said.

When questioned about the stark contrast with the official figure, he replied, “I’m told that the chief minister has given a death toll figure of 500. Here, I don’t want to create any controversy. I have arrived at this number of 10,000 based on my own assessment and I agree it could prove to be quite different later on.”

Kunjwal’s assessment brings out the difference in perception between the two major factions in the Uttarakhand Congress. Even the BJP has not played as much politics with the somewhat helpless government and exploited the situation to the extent that this other faction in the Congress has.

Bahuguna is the principal politician in the government faction while that led by Harish Rawat is known for its opposition to Bahuguna. Kunjwal is a Rawat loyalist, which explains his suspicion of government figures.

Explaining why he has arrived at this staggering figure of 10,000, the Congress leader from Almora further said that more than 15,000 thousand people were affected in the worst hit Kedarnath area alone. “Three days before the devastating flood, more than 15,000 pilgrims were stuck in the neighbourhood as nobody was allowed to have darshan because of a protest by local residents.” Locals in Kedarnath were protesting against private chopper services that were harming the businesses of thousands of locals.

“Apart from Kedarnath, I’m told that more than 12,000 pilgrims were stranded in all ghats. If I took into account the presence of such a huge number of pilgrims, I can definitely assure that the death figures would have crossed a minimum of 10,000,” Kunjwal explained.

On Saturday, bad weather interrupted the rescue operations in Kedarnath, Kedar valley and Guptkashi.

In Kedarnath, the focus was on cremating the bodies of victims to minimise the chances of an epidemic. The last rites of 34 bodies have been performed so far, and 12 more are likely to be cremated soon.

“Hundreds of decaying bodies are lying under the debris and some have even flown down the Ganga river. We need to remove the debris with utmost urgency, as any delay would result in the spread of an epidemic.” Kunjwal said.

However, the union health ministry has claimed that no epidemic or direct contact diseases have been reported from the affected areas, and a team of doctors is keeping strict vigil at Ground Zero.

Meanwhile, as the rescue operations entered the final stretch, the Indian Air Force on Saturday airlifted about 850 pilgrims from Badrinath and about 20 from Harisal by 26 IAF helicopters. Road network in the state has been badly damaged and about 1,500 people are still stuck in Badrinath.

The state government and other agencies are also trying to ensure supply of relief material to more than 600 villages in Rudraprayag, Chamoli and Uttarkashi districts, which were cut off after the floods.