State gears to cremate the dead

As many as 1000 body bags have been sent from Delhi as the government plans to clean up the temple area in Uttarakhand. Rescue teams have been asked to help the local administration in pulling out the bodies. Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna on Sunday said that the cremation would start as the local police had reached Kedarnath to identify the dead.

Rescue teams are banking on mountaineering ladder and ropes to evacuate around 20,000 still said to be stuck at various locations. In the wake of bad weather condition predicted Monday onwards,rescue teams have made alternate arrangements in case helicopters are not able to ply. On Sunday,airlift operations could start only after 12 noon. Since the weather could play truant again we are not depending on air operations now. We have built four bridges on Alaknanda,people could leave on foot. We are using aluminium sheets to construct these, said a senior ITBP official.

On Sunday,the ITBP,Army and IAF rescued 12,000 people. Government pressed in more helicopters with 83 deployed on Sunday.

The second priority is to organise a mass cremation. We are expecting resistance as the dead may also include relatives of influential people who might not agree to mass cremation, said an official.

Iamp;B Minister Manish Tewari said Junglechatti areahad been fully cleared now. About 2000 people are in Harsil but under the charge of the Army. The focus of rescue efforts will be on Harsil now, said Tewari.