By Shishir Prashant 
PrashantNews
Uttarakhand was again on high alert on Tuesday amid the warnings of heavy to very heavy rains and floods in the hills and the plains as the inclement weather continued to paralyze life in most parts of the state which also adversely affected the Chardham yatra.
Schools were closed in Dehradun and several other towns and cities in the state with met department saying the heavy to very heavy rains are likely to continue for 2-3 more days.
The Kedarnath yatra was suspended for three days beginning from Tuesday due to continuing heavy rains in Rudraprayag district, officials said.
The Gangotri temple was also remained cut off since the Aug 5 Dharali disaster where the authorities are finding an uphill task to restore the highway which has been damaged at number of places. Most of the pilgrims stranded in Gangotri have been evacuated.
In the first official confirmation, a top government official on Monday said 42 people are missing in the Aug 5 Dharali disaster which was triggered by the flash floods in Khirgad stream even as missing reports of 24 Nepali labourers is not yet confirmed.
Only one body has been recovered so far, the Garhwal Commissioner Vinay Shankar Pandey said. A total of 43 people went missing in the flash floods that created nearly 30-50 feet high debris, he said.
In a statement, Pandey said nearly 1278 people have been evacuated till Sunday from different parts of the disaster-hit Uttarkashi district. The rescue operation since Monday is being hampered intermittently due to heavy rains in Dharali.
However, the authorities are disbursing the compensation among the affected people who are also getting relief materials including food and water, the officials said.
A compensation amount of Rs 5 lakh is being given to the people whose houses have been damaged completely in the disaster. In addition to this, an ex gratia of Rs 5 lakh is being given to the next of kin of the victims killed in the Dharali disaster.
Out of the 42 missing persons, nine are from the Indian Army. Besides, 13 people are from Bihar, 6 from Uttar Pradesh, eight from Dharali, five from nearby areas of Dharali and one from Tehri district.
Pandey said there were also reports that 29 labourers from Nepal were missing in the floods. However, five labourers have reached their homes safely. Now, only 24 labourers are reportedly missing for which the government is trying to find more details from their contractors, Pandey said.