Battered by rains, betrayed by gods

As roads open up, relief efforts pick up but fears of more floods loom large

It’s business as usual in Har-ki-Pauri on the shores of Ganga: Priests conducting rituals, pilgrims braving the muddy waters for their holy dips, policemen playfully threatening to puncture a corn seller’s cart and a coin diver sitting in a secluded place counting his day’s booty. But death lurks nearby. “I saw two bodies today,” the diver tells without taking his eyes off the coins. “They have taken it ,” he points to the police control room.

Haridwar, one of the Khumb Mela venues, has elaborate control systems that limit the flow of water. These shutters have saved lives and the controlled flow brings a semblance of normalcy.

A couple of metres away, Uttam Kumar Singh runs the emergency control room. He is vishesh bhumi adyapathi adhikari/aapda adhikari. His difficult designation only reflects a part of the intensity of the job he is trying to do. “We have received 17 bodies so far. They started hitting shores here on Thursday. But most of them are badly disfigured and decomposed.”

Singh and his staff have uploaded the gory images to the government website. “Though it is very difficult to make out, we are trying to give descriptions such as estimated age, hair colour, etc. We are not sure how far this would help.”

Meanwhile, routes have opened up to Rudraprayag, 150 km from here. Hundreds of buses and other relief vehicles are already on their way to bring back the pilgrims abandoned by their lord and battered by the fury of Mandakini.

Singh is bracing for more rains that have been forecast over the next couple of days. “We have made enough arrangements to control the flood. But there are a couple of places of bother such as Matani on the Solani river and Shivpuri on the Ganga. If the rains are very heavy, it may get difficult,” he said.

The SSP’s office at Haridwar has instructed the dharmasalas in the city to keep places free for people being evacuated. Outside the control room, a truck is being loaded with relief materials such as foodgrains, medicine and packed foods such as biscuits. “These are being collected from different police stations at the SSP’s office. This lot is from Laksar thana. We are headed for the Jolly Grant Airport,” the driver says. The relief material will be flown from there to Kedarnath and other remote places.

Jasveer drove his Innova all day from Rampur on the road to Kedarnath. “I started at 5 am. An alternative route has opened up via Chamba. It took me twelve hours.”

None of the six passengers he took with him were in the car, instead he was busy offloading the baggages and handing them over to ground staff at the Uttarakhand government tourist information centre.

R P Raturi, a retired governmet official who has come to help out, said, “Two of his passengers were airlifted. We don’t know what happened to others.”

Raturi added, “Most vehicles that went to Char Dham are returning. It was difficult to establish contact with drivers. We knew this vehicle was okay as other drivers told that they saw 1555 (registration number). One more Max which had gone to Bhadrinath is missing. We simply don’t know what happened to it. The driver’s phone is not reachable.”

A large group of pilgrims from Andhra Pradesh had taken the ulti yatra or the reverse route. “Typically, people first go to Kedarnath and then to Bhadrinath. These people went to Bhadrinath first.”

At the Haridwar railway station, as passengers lie on the floor wailing and waiting, help desks have been set up by the government, political parties and independent volunteers. “We have arranged for food, medicine and drinking water. Yesterday 4,000-5,000 people have passed through Haridwar. Today, so far it is about 2,500 people. We expect more to come,” said Arvind Tindal, a Congress worker.

Dr Pramod Kumar of the disrict hospital, posted at the station, says, “Medical services are far from adequate for the people stranded in the mountains. We heard two doctors who had gone to Kedarnath themselves were missing.”

Kumar is not providing much beyond first aid. “People come here walking in difficult conditions for several hours. We are giving them painkillers.”

Even as Uttarakhand is taking all efforts to send off its surviving guests, it’s preparing for a long monsoon. “I have not seen anything like this. Last time it had happened six seven years ago, it was in September. But, this time rains have only begun,” said Dr Kumar.