‘I saw people being consumed by gushing water’

Jammu, Aug 16: The family of 23-year-old Gehna, a student who was pursuing her nursing course in a local college, is simply devastated by losing her in a jiffy in the catastrophic cloudburst that struck Chisoti village in Kishtwar on the afternoon of August 14.

As their agony becomes unbearable, Gehna’s inconsolable sisters (cousins) throw a prickly poser to the media persons (though it is directed at the administration) gathered at their Bakshi Nagar residence in Jammu.

The last rites of Gehna were performed on Sunday.

“If there was already an adverse weather forecast vis-à-vis cloudbursts and flash floods, why did they (the administration) allow the (Machail Mata) Yatra to continue? Why did they not suspend it?” they repeatedly ask while wailing over their irreparable loss.

Gehna was among several pilgrims from Jammu who had gone for pilgrimage, which is very popular among the locals.

Now she is among those who lost their lives in the disaster. Her father and a cousin, Mansi, are injured.

Her (Gehna’s) mother, Jyoti Devi, recalls, “My daughter, along with her father and cousin Mansi, left Jammu on the morning of August 13 for a pilgrimage to pay obeisance at the Shri Machail Mata temple. After reaching there, she called up and was exuberant in her expression while sharing details about the ambience around. ‘Ma (mother), you too should have come,’ she had told me. I blessed her and asked her to enjoy the bliss.”

From here, Gehna’s cousin Mansi, who also suffered injuries in her legs, back and other parts of the body, picks up the threads of disaster, which she had not just seen but experienced as a harrowing memory now for a lifetime.

“She (Gehna) was with me. She had already performed ‘Darshan’ while I was paying obeisance at the temple. Once I came back after performing puja, she was not there. Suddenly there was clamour all around – run, run. All those who were there were confused – where (to run) and why? I had gone there for the first time, so I was looking for my sister, who was nowhere to be seen,” she recounts those dreadful moments.

“Probably she was already swept away by gushing water and deluge. Before I could gauge what was happening, I too found myself being swept away, and then I lost my consciousness. When I regained my senses, I was safe with some injuries. There was chaos and wails all around. I found my uncle, who too had sustained injuries, crying and looking for her daughter (Gehna),” Mansi continued.

Recalling those moments disturbs her as she says, “I saw people being consumed by gushing water. When I was saved, I could see bodies of people, including listless bodies of children, buried under the deluge with broken limbs or hands or some body part – visible, giving a cue to the rescue teams that someone was there. I don’t want to recall any further.”

“My sister (Gehna) could be recovered after a strenuous search for eight hours, and that became possible when our brother came from Jammu. At his insistence, army personnel moved around to search for her, although the rescue operation had become difficult due to darkness and inclement weather conditions…” Mansi could not continue further.

However, while extending gratitude to local people and all those engaged in rescue operations and medical teams, she asks, “Locals were very helpful. Many people from Jammu had gone there to perform pilgrimage. Everyone there helped us a lot, and we are grateful to them. But if they knew the weather was so bad, why did they not prevent us?”.

Her two other cousins, amid wails, kept on raising the same query. “If there was a flash flood and cloudburst alert, why did they allow the Yatra to proceed? It’s only their negligence that so many people lost their lives. Now they are coming, consoling our losses. But we have lost our sister forever; who will compensate her?” they continue, leaving an uncomfortable question lurking behind.