Uttarakhand Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna on Thursday said the Centre's guidelines will be sought before issuing certificates for people who went missing in the natural calamity that struck the state in June. Contribute to The Indian Express Relief Fund for Uttarakhand "Centre's guidelines will be sought as to what sort of certificates are to be issued to people who went missing in the calamity so that their bank account balances and LIC claims could be paid to their next of kin," Bahuguna told reporters here today before leaving for Delhi to meet Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram. Compensation amounts have been paid so far to the next of kin of 700 out of a total 924 people from Uttarakhand who went missing in the tragedy,he said. The state administration has a list of 1,920 missing persons from neighbouring Uttar Pradesh which has to be verified by the UP government,he said. Bahuguna said he has requested UP Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav to direct officials concerned about speeding up verification process of the list of people missing from the state,which is available with Uttarakhand government. Over five thousand people from different parts of the country went missing after the natural calamity struck the state in mid-June this year. Bahuguna said other states are also being asked to complete formalities fast and pay compensation to the families of missing people at the earliest. Relief and reconstruction efforts are being carried out on war footing across the state,he said adding that the Centre is offering all help to the state government in the task. World Bank and Asian Development Bank have agreed to provide a fund of 400 million dollars to the state for reconstruction and rehabilitation work in disaster-hit areas,the Chief Minister said. The Badrinath-Kedarnath Mandir Samity,Kedarnath shrine's Rawal and local Teerth purohits have requested that regular prayers at the Himalayan shrine be resumed from September for which the state government has agreed in principle,he said. Efforts are under way at Kedarnath to put all systems in place before prayers resume there on September 11,Bahuguna added.
