The Uttarakhand government has initiated the process to declare the 136 people currently missing in the devastating Chamoli flash floods that took place on February 7 as ‘presumed dead.’
The Health Secretary of Uttarakhand Amid Negi issued a notification in this regard on Sunday after which the provisions of the Birth and Death Registration Act, 1969 were invoked. The act allows authorities to declare people dead before the specified seven-year period.
“In normal circumstances, the birth and death certificates are issued to a person at the place where he is born or died. But in exceptional circumstances, like the Chamoli disaster, if a missing person is possibly dead beyond all possibilities of being alive but his body is yet to be found, in that case, the authorities could declare him dead by issuing the death certificate to his family members after a required inquiry,” the notification read.
Till now 68 people have been found dead in the Uttarakhand flash floods.