Lok Sabha Question No. 3357 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2016-12-06
Subject: Natural Calamity in Uttarakhand
Ministry: HOME AFFAIRS
Asked by: LALLU SINGH

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## MINISTRY OF HOME AFFAIRS

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. †3357

TO BE ANSWERED ON THE 6 TH   DECEMBER, 2016/ AGRAHAYANA 15, 1938 (SAKA)

NATURAL CALAMITY IN UTTARAKHAND

†3357. SHRI LALLU SINGH:

Will the Minister of HOME AFFAIRS be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the human skeletons of those who could not be saved in the natural calamity of Uttarakhand in June 2013 are being traced on roads and hilly areas;
- (b) if so, the details thereof;
- (c) whether in view of apprehension expressed by the experts in the wake of the said natural calamity that more than 450 such villages are prone to natural calamities like the one that occurred in June 2013, a policy for rehabilitation was framed but the same is not being implemented; and
- (d) if so, the details thereof and the reasons therefor?

## ANSWER

MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF HOME AFFAIRS (SHRI KIREN RIJIJU)

(a) & (b): As per information received from the State Government, nearly 4000 people had lost their lives in the natural calamity of Uttarakhand in June 2013.  Till September, 2016, 639 dead bodies/ remains have been recovered. Most of these bodies are buried under debris of the devastating floods in 2013.  Some of these bodies are also believed to be

## L.S.US.Q.NO.3357 FOR 06.12.2016

along higher altitude areas around Kedarnath where the people had taken shelter  after  the  Kedarnath  floods.  The  State  Government  has  formed search  teams  comprising  of  the  local  Administration,  Police,  Forest, State Disaster Response Force and local communities to search for these missing  people.  The  search  operation  is  continuing  for  the  past  three years  and  the  State  Government  is  working  continuously  to  find  these dead bodies. As the areas are very vast and remote, it is possible that some of these bodies have not yet been recovered.

(c)  &  (d)    The  rehabilitation/  relocation  of  villages  vulnerable  against natural calamities is required to be primarily undertaken by the concerned State Government from its own resources and also based on the availability of Government lands as per their existing land/ rehabilitation policy.

Identification  of  such  vulnerable  village  is  a  continuous  process  of  the governance system.  To rehabilitate/ relocate these villages, it  requires identification of vulnerable village through Geological survey, identification  of  alternative  places  for  rehabilitation,  availabilities  of

financial  resources  and  social  consideration.  All  these  steps  involve extensive consultation with the villages/ villagers and are time consuming. Rehabilitation is done only where Geologically safe suitable sites  are  found  available  with  the  consent  of  villagers.  The  State Government  has  informed  that  they  have  identified 395  vulnerable villages  prone  to  various  type  of  natural  calamity  before  the  2013 disaster.      So  far,  two  villages/  hamlets  in  District  Rudraprayag  and Chamoli have been rehabilitated.

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