Uttarakhand: Central forces refuse cremation request

The matter was discussed at length during the National Crisis Management Committee (NCMC) chaired by the Cabinet Secretary on Tuesday with the central agencies involved in rescue operations of the view that disposal of the bodies was the state government’s job.

“They have been asking us to cremate the dead also. We have refused and have asked them to get home guards and sanitation staff for the mass cremation. Our boys are not going to cremate the dead,” said a senior ITBP official.

The ITBP and NDRF,which carried out rescue operations in and around the Kedarnath shrine,the worst hit by the flash floods,are still staying put in the area although there are no survivors there. “It was our duty to save the stranded people but cremating the dead is the job of the local administration,” said another official.

When contacted,Chief Resident Commissioner of Uttarakhand Suneel Kumar Muttoo said,“The processing of disposal of bodies was discussed and ITBP as well as the NDRF were of the view that legally as well as operationally it was the job of the state government to do so. We have conveyed this further.”

DG ITBP Ajay Chaddha said,“The rescue operation in Kedarnath-Gaurigaon is over and now the focus is on to call back our men from these places. At the most we will be present at these locations for two days. They are forced to live in harsh conditions.”

Former union home secretary V K Duggal,who was appointed the nodal officer to oversee the rescue operations,also handed over a standard operating procedure to the state government on the disposal of the bodies.