RANCHI: More than a week after the Chamoli glacial break in Uttarakhand, family members of the 14 persons from Jharkhand who are still missing have lost hopes of their return and are trying to come to terms with reality, while battling health issues caused by the shock. Nine persons from Lohardaga, four from Ramgarh and one from Bokaro, who were deployed at NTPC’s project site in Tapovan, went missing in the flash floods triggered by the glacier break last Sunday.
From Ramgarh’s Gola block, Birsai Mahto, Kuldeep Mahto, Madam Mahto and Jitendra Kumar who are still traceless. Talking to TOI over phone on Monday, Birsay’s nephew Vikrant said, “We don’t have any hope of anyone returning. All that we are waiting is to get the formalities done so that the affected families can get compensation.” Kuldeep and Madam’s wives were released from the hospital in Ramgarh last night, days after they were rushed in an emergency.
Kuldeep’s sister-in-law Devanti added, “Everyone in the family is emotionally exhausted and stressed wondering whether the men will return or not. Our tears have dried up as several days have passed. His wife has become fragile due to severe depression. She has two little girls aged six and four. Kuldeep’s father keeps fainting several times a day.”
The thought of bodies remaining traceless is troubling the families. “We don’t even know the condition of their bodies in case they are dead. Kuldeep’s brother Dilip who had gone to Chamoli last Tuesday with four others, gave his DNA samples but they are still to be matched with the bodies that have been found,” she rued.
Jhonson Topno, who is supervising with the state control room set up by labour department to coordinate relief and rescue, said 29 persons who were stranded after the incident have returned to the state. People who were stranded hailed from Latehar (10), Ramgarh (7), Bokaro (3), Jamtara (7) and Hazaribag (2). “Except Hazaribag residents, all others have returned. Those from Hazaribag are reported safe as per the recent update,” said Topno.
The control room team is in contact with the contractors and NTPC officials. “The paperwork along with documents of the relatives and nominees are under the process of verifications so that actual compensation to be announced for the missing persons from the company. The claimants are under the process of the DNA tests followed by verifications of the needful documents,” said another official of the labour department.
Ramgarh labour superintendent Digamber Mahto, who had gone to Chamoli to take stock of the situation on Monday, met the relatives of the four missing workers there. “The documents of the nominees along with photographs have been submitted to NTPC,” Topno said.