‘Mountain Aaye’: The remaining people who excavate through the debris, search for loved ones. Bharat News
Chasoti: A two -storey wooden house fell in seconds. Boulder roared the hills, mud and water swallowing fields in Chasoti village of Jammu -Kastur district. Piara Singh, 26, a 26 -year -old art student, said, “It was as if Mountain himself was coming down,”By the time the silence returned, his uncle and cousin were dead, two pilgrims were missing, and his family was in shock. “My brother kept touching me, asking, ‘Are you alive?” Singh said.Chasoti is now debris. Flash floods killed at least 60 people on Thursday after a cloudburst, injured 160, and left untreated for 70. Chief Secretary Atul Dulo said that 72 missing reports were filed. MLA Sunil Sharma warned that the number could be more. Rescuers took out four more bodies on Saturday.Everywhere, sorrow is hung heavy. Pawan Kumar, a bulldozer driver from Rajouri, has been searching for 14 relatives from August 14, who came for Mata Machel pilgrimage. “Many bodies have been taken out,” he said, when a stretcher finally took away his mother’s remains.In a community kitchen, Jaffer Hussain of Doda described 30 people disappearing in seconds. “When I saw again, there was no one,” he said. Fuel fears in such accounts that the actual missing number may exceed official estimates.On Saturday morning, CM Omar Abdullah arrived to topple the restless families seeking response. He said, “They have been waiting for two days. They want to know whether their family members will live or not,” he said, promising tireless discovery efforts. He underestimated the missing figures between 70 and 80. “It will a little ups and downs, but I don’t think the number will reach 500 or 1,000 as some are claiming,” he said.SDRF and NDRF rescue teams are digging through boulders with excavations, while revenue authorities have noted the names of missing. Relatives wait on the shore, cry. Politicians inside and outside.Union Minister Jitendra Singh visited the injured in GMC Jammu. He said that PM Narendra Modi is giving “personally monitoring” relief. Sixty-seven patients were admitted, discharged on 15 Saturdays, causing 52 treatment. Singh announced an MP help-desk to provide food, medicines and transportation. “It was a natural disaster for which no one was ready,” he said.For the remaining people like Piara Singh, Life is headed. “Our house has gone, our employment has gone, my uncle and cousin are dead,” he said. “I thought I would continue studying. But now I am being a burden with responsibilities. I don’t know if we will live in this village now.”(Input from Sanjay Khajuria in Jammu)
