In a compassionate and practical step, authorities are seriously considering relaxing rules to issue death certificates to the family members of all 32 persons missing after the devastating cloudburst in Choshiti village of Jammu and Kashmir’s Kishtwar district.

Without officially declaring these untraced persons dead, their families are not eligible to receive the compensation and ex gratia announced by the government for the victims of the tragedy that struck this ill-fated village on August 14.

“Although a decision in this regard has to be taken by the higher authorities, we are expediting the process to formally declare the missing as dead,” Tehsildar Machail Vijay Gupta told The International Business Times. He said compensation has already been given to the families of 11 residents of Choshiti village whose bodies were recovered after the cloudburst and subsequent flash flood on August 14.

Officials have decided to officially declare the 32 missing persons dead within the next six months.

This decision has been taken as a special case since, despite extensive searches over such a long period, no trace of the missing persons has been found.

Under normal circumstances, as per government rules and regulations, it takes seven years to declare a missing person dead. However, given the gravity and circumstances of the Choshiti tragedy, the administration has relaxed this rule and decided to declare them dead within six months. This step will allow for the prompt disbursement of compensation and relief funds to the affected families.

“The devastation in Choshiti village was unprecedented. Rescue operations continued for several days but yielded no results. Now the administration’s priority is to provide immediate relief to these families, so the process of declaring the missing as dead is being expedited,” Gupta said.

After the tragedy, the Centre and the Jammu and Kashmir government announced ex gratia for the families of those who lost their lives in the cloudburst. However, for families of missing persons, the inability to prove death legally has delayed their access to relief. With this new decision, officials hope to provide closure and support to those grappling with uncertainty and grief.

Sources said a similar process was adopted during a devastating cloudburst in the Dechhan area of Kishtwar district in 2021, when three missing persons were officially declared dead by relaxing rules. Within five months, the administration declared them dead and provided death certificates to their families, facilitating compensation and benefits.

Sources confirmed that a similar process will be followed in the current case. “Legal procedures are being fast-tracked. Documentation is being prepared, and once the necessary verification is completed, death certificates will be issued to the families. Efforts are being made to ensure that the grieving families are not subjected to further bureaucratic delays,” said another official.

It is important to mention that within a week of the tragedy, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah admitted that the chances of retrieving the missing persons alive from the Choshiti cloudburst site in Kishtwar appeared bleak. He announced that a team of experts would be constituted to identify vulnerable areas in order to prevent such tragedies in the future.

“The situation in Kishtwar is known to all, and day by day, it is becoming impossible to trace the missing people alive. In such a situation, our efforts will be to recover as many bodies as possible and hand them over to the families for the last rites,” the CM said.

Omar added that the government would provide all possible assistance to the affected families. “Whatever help we have to provide, we will do as much as possible. They had put a few things before me when I was there, and we will consider them,” he said.