Opinion Do not play numbers game over the dead

The most frequently asked question in the state of Uttarakhand

June 26, 2013 02:40 AM IST First published on: Jun 26, 2013 at 02:40 AM IST

The most frequently asked question in the state of Uttarakhand today is on the death toll of the flash floods that have devastated the temple town of Kedarnath. While it is the most discussed topic in tea stalls and in casual conversations across the state,worryingly everyone in the establishment,particularly the state government,has been more than keen to project numbers.

So,if Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna has been slowly escalating the number from 200 to 1,000 in press interactions,his ministers have gone a step ahead and put the number at 5,000. Many other spectacular figures are also floating around,thanks to the plentiful presence of TV cameras and mikes in the tragedy-struck state,each breathless reporter,eager to break the latest toll.

For anyone who has actually been to the ravaged town of Kedarnath,it should be very clear that putting a number to the dead is pure folly. The extent of the damage is so immense that it would take weeks,if not months,to come to some nominal number of those who have died in the disaster. The exact toll may never be known,simply because entire mountainsides have come down,burying several in tons of stone and mud,making any sort of retrieval operation impossible.

The intense desire to put a number at this early stage has the potential of undermining the tragedy. How would things be different if the toll is higher? The fact is that thousands of families are looking for survivors and as the window of finding more diminishes if it has not closed forever the focus should be on identifying the dead.

Sadly,the state administrations efforts towards identifying or cremating the bodies lying in the temple town have been far less than spectacular. The very first police team to reach the town of Kedarnath was on Saturday,an entire week after the tragedy. The less spoken of the equipment they had and the numbers deployed the better.

The only way to bring closure and temper down anger among the families of the victims is a massive,war like effort to identify and cremate. Sadly,even though wood and funeral supplies are being airlifted up,there has been no signs yet of a serious resolve by the state government.

Manu is an assistant editor based in New Delhi

manu.pubby@expressindia.com