A bench headed by Justice L Nageswara Rao directed the state governments to get help from the National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) and legal services authorities to identify sex workers and maintain confidentiality pertaining to the identity of sex workers.
People in Srinagar trying to survive the fury of the floods, which have already claimed 200 lives, are angry and emotional. On Wednesday, four helicopters, carrying relief material, could not land after angry locals threatened to throw stones at them.
The army rescue teams have been operating throughout the night along with the teams from civil defence, police and the NDRF, trying to remove the debris from the affected area.
Flood and erosion is a serious issue in the state as more than 4.27 lakh hectares or 7.4 per cent of the state's total area have already been eroded by the Brahmaputra and its tributaries since 1950.
Rigorous pumping of water from the nearby abandoned mines is expected to begin on Friday.
Earlier on Thursday morning, a 300 kg magnet was lowered with the help of a crane in the river to trace the missing buses.
The blaze at the Oil India Ltd's oil well is so massive that it can be seen from a distance of more than two kilometres, eyewitnesses said.
The incident is said to have occurred in the wee hours when a huge mound of earth fell on the 'row houses' and two children and five women were among the deceased, most of whom were plantation workers from neighbouring Tamil Nadu.
Several people were feared trapped under the debris, police said, adding that the rescue operation was underway.
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