The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Tuesday, August 8, 2000,
Chandigarh, India

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Sutlej disaster survivors’ unending hope
From Rakesh Lohumi
Tribune News Service

BROW (Kulu), Aug 7 — The grief-stricken survivors of the Sutlej disaster are still hopeful of finding the bodies of their near and dear ones who perished in the flashfloods a week ago.

Caught between hope and despair they look at the debris as SSB jawans and rescue workers search the bodies. While the bodies of many of victims were washed away downstream by the swirling water of the angry river, some were entrapped in the collapsed structures in the twin villages of Brow and Jagaat Khana on the right bank, facing Rampur, which bore the brunt of the river’s fury.

Hoshiar Chand, whose wife and two young daughters lay buried in the debris, and his brother Rajpal, look intently as SSB jawans use explosives to blast the concrete slabs which fell one over the other when a three-storeyed structure was razed by the gushing water. The blast, however, creates a small hole in concrete opening up a way to reach the ground floor where the three were sleeping at the time of disaster.

The emotional toll of the flashfloods, which ravaged the village, was clearly visible on their faces. Hoshiar Chand has been waiting for the past six days in the hope that the efforts of the jawans would bear fruit and he would have a last look at his wife and daughters. At some distance Karm Chand, 80, who lost his son, looks in the direction of his now flattened-house. What torments the survivors most is the fact that the victims could not be saved despite a timely warning from villagers upstream in Kinnaur. It was a local shopkeeper, Mr Kanshi Chand, who got a call from one of his relatives in Powari at 1.30 a.m. on the fateful night that the river was in unprecedented fury. Every one in the village, including the three family members of Hoshiar Chand, came out. Wife Shanno and daughters, Anuradha and Ranju, remained on the roof of their concrete house until 2.15 a.m. When they did not notice any change in the water level, they went to the ground floor and slept again. Some other residents also took it as a false alarm and followed suit. At least 22 persons died in the two villages, while there was no information regarding five migrant labourers who lived in a shed.

The incidents of 1997 and 1993, when a flood warning was given by the administration, during lifting of blockade in the Sutlej, which had created huge lakes were fresh in their mind.

They had no idea of the fury of the “water twister” that was flowing down from the heights of Kinnaur at a terrific speed to change their world for ever.

And when it finally arrived, at around 3.30 a.m. it did not give any time to those who had gone inside. Before anyone could realise what was happening a 15-metre high tide of the roaring river hit the first row of houses along the bank. It was followed by more such gushes of water which even pounded the houses located at a safe height of 20 to 25 metres from the river. The water turned and twisted at every bend of the river creating whirls which sucked in huge concrete structures, along the banks. About 90 houses in the twin villages were either washed away, collapsed or suffered extensive damages. The two-storeyed house of Mr Ishwar Das, the local MLA, was also flattened.

The fury of the river could be gauged from the fact all but three bridges between Khab in Kinnaur and Tattapani in Mandi district were washed away. The latest damage reports reveal the 16 major road bridges and 41-foot bridges were swallowed by the river. In Nogli, about 5 km downstream, a four-storeyed hotel was washed away with a score of other houses. A 250-metre stretch of the national highway, was also swept. It all happened within minutes.

The water started receding at 3.45 a.m. but the 250 odd shocked survivors of the villages spent rest of the night on rocks on the hill side. But for the alert school chowkidar Roop Singh, who woke up the whole village after receiving a telephone call from Rampur, the human toll would have been much higher than nine.

The subdivisional town of Rampur is agog with poignant tales of how some of the victims perished in their presence. A woman of Brow who was trapped in the house, tossed her child to her husband before the surging water claimed her, Mr PC Katoch, Deputy Commissioner, said.

At Jhakri all but one of the 150 odd workers, who were busy with the installation of turbines in the underground power house, managed to come out in darkness. Atwa, a migrant labourer from Ranchi in Bihar, stumbled while climbing the exit stairs and fell to the surging water. The survivors owe their life to fellow pump operator Bheem Singh who informed them about the flood in the nick of time.

Bodies are being recovered at Gobind Sagar, 150 km downstream. Till yesterday 18 bodies were recovered. Those engaged in search of bodies at Brow and Jagaat Khana had any information about it. The people were unhappy over the lack of coordination in the search operations. They were, however, all praise for the SSB and ITBP jawans who were not only searching bodies and valuables from the debris but also helping the survivors in removing silt from their houses.

The lot of those who survived the onslaught of Sutlej was no better. With their houses, valuables and personal belongings created after years of hard work, destroyed, they shudder to think of the future.

It is virtually like starting life afresh. In particular for a retired person like Ved Prakash whose recently-built house was swallowed by the river. Not only that the family’s personal belongings have also been washed away. He has already received Rs 35,000 as relief. Like him all other affected persons, whose houses have collapsed or damaged, resent the meagre amount being paid as relief and the slow pace of restoration work.

Mr Ishwar Das, the local MLA, has demanded that the relief manual should be waived and the maximum limit of relief for damage to a house raised from the present Rs 25,000 to Rs 1 lakh and for loss of belongings from Rs 10,000 to Rs 50,000. He said the BJP government’s decision to link the divisional offices of the PWD, Irrigation and Public Health, Forest and other departments located at Ani and Nirmand to circle offices at Kulu was affecting the pace of relief work. The Congress had placed these divisions under circle offices located at Rampur. Even now the relief and rehabilitation work in affected areas of Kulu district was being carried out with the help of men and machinery made available by the Rampur circle.

Mr Satya Prakash Thakur, a former Congress minister, said for speedy and proper relief measures the Deputy Commissioner, A.D.M., District Revenue Officer, and other officers concerned of Kulu should be asked to camp at Rampur. He said Nirmand and most part of the Ani area were cut off as a result of which apples were rotting and prices of essential commodities rising.

Coolies were charging up to Rs 60 for carrying a cooking gas refill from Rampur to Brow and Jagaat Khana to which the road link had been snapped due to washing away of the bridge. They were accessible only by foot through the under-construction bypass bridge.

Meanwhile, relief operations are gradually picking up with the restoration of some important road links. After six days of round-the-clock efforts to make a new road in place of the 250 metre-stretch of road washed away at Nogli, the PWD has succeeded in restoring the road link to Rampur. Mr R.D. Kashyap, the Urban Development Minister, was present at the site supervising blasting operations to make a road by cutting through a vertical rock.

The Luri-Nither-Bagi Pull-Nirmand road has also been opened. However, this narrow road, was not good enough for apple-loaded trucks. Similarly the Ani area was accessible only through the link road via Dalash and Karsog. The local people want that the approaches to the bypass bridge should be immediately completed and bailey bridges be installed instead of road bridges.