Three months after the Uttarakhand floods, the State Missing Cell on Tuesday stated 4,083 persons were still missing, with people from Uttar Pradesh accounting for the highest number — 1142.
According to Ajay Kumar Pradyot, Secretary of the Missing Cell, Dehradun, although the list has been brought out, the figures are “still fluctuating.” The missing persons include 3,991 Indians from 20 States and two Union Territories, of whom 1,356 are women and 421 children. Among those missing are 541 from Madhya Pradesh, 511 from Rajasthan 511, 14 from Tamil Nadu 14 and one from Puducherry. Among foreigners missing, 92 are from Nepal — 79 men, 11 women and two children — and two non-resident Indians. Telecommunication data that was used to find the number of missing people showed that 305 nationals from 49 foreign countries were missing in the mid-June deluge. A majority of the phone numbers belong to the United Kingdom, the United States and the United Arab Emirates.
On foreigners, Mr. Pradyot said, “We couldn’t make much headway except those from Nepal in whose case the final number of missing has been arrived at. Authentication through telecommunication data posed a lot of difficulty.”
He said: “The American Embassy enquired about two missing NRIs. No other Embassy has sent us any query regarding data on missing foreign nationals.”
For lack of data to authenticate the findings of telecommunication data, the Missing Cell has made little progress in locating foreign nationals.
From the disaster-hit State, 852 persons are missing of whom 652 are from Rudraprayag district. In Chamoli district, which was also badly hit with many bridges, roads, and buildings destroyed, 52 people have been reported missing.
