MP: Survivors return, relieved
BHOPAL: Some pilgrims from Madhya Pradesh landed in Bhopal via the special chartered flight of the state government, on Thursday, a week after the Uttarakhand floods.
Gayatri Kushwaha , a resident of Bhopal is feeling relieved with her family. “It is fortunate that our family members had left Badrinath just one day before the floods. We had to wait at the helipad for two days. There were around 8,000-10,000 people who were queued up to get rescued by the helicopters,” said Vaishali, daughter of Gayatri. She added that her family faced no problems of food or water as the army personnel had made proper arrangements.
“The local people were very kind to organise ‘bhandara’ for the victims,” she said. The Kushwaha family was dropped at Baucher via the rescue helicopter after a wait of two days at the helipad, said Vaishali.
Mahendra Singh Dangi, a resident of Berkheda ( near Berasia), along with 14 other people went for the ‘ Char Dham Yatra’ on June 6. They halted in Badrinath. “We did not face any major problem during all this and have been lucky enough to have the ‘darshan’ before the floods. We waited for eight days for the situation to improve. We had food with us and were comfortable in the ‘ashram’ we stayed at,” said Mahendra. The rescue helicopter dropped them to Rishikesh on June 25.
Uttarakhand government has given Rs 2,000 per person and MP government has given Rs 500 per person to those who have survived, said Mahendra. Praising the Indian army, Mahendra stated that it is standing firmly against all the odds and is really a lifesaver. “Earlier, we knew Indian army by its name only but now it has become ‘devdoot’ for us,” said Mahendra.
Anil Srivastava and his wife have reached home via the special flight of MP government. “My relatives had to take shelter behind a rock. We walked for about five days surviving on the little food we had, along with 200-300 people,” said Sourabh, nephew of Anil.
They hired some Nepali people for Rs 2,500, who were helping people to walk through the rough terrain of the slippery hills, told Sourabh. He told that his uncle and aunt were rescued along with 800 other people by helicopters for the task.