Chandra Singh Rana, a middle aged man from Jadaou village in Uttarkashi district of Uttarakhand has trekked 18 Kms from his village to get to the road head Mala along with his fellow villagers and from the road head they have had to walk another 35 odd Kms to get to Uttarkashi town and why? To collect relief materials such as tents, torch, water purifier and solar lanterns being provided to them by Various Organisations such as Tata Relief Committee and IN ME.
Tata Relief Committee had initially adopted around 6 villages in this region namely DIdsari- ( new and Old ) , Pillang, Jadaou, Bhayana, Shyaba and Lungthru which are completely remote and cut off from road connectivity and villagers have lost their homes. With at Total of 40 families in Jadau which amounts to a population of approximately 200 people, the village has lost all access to any kind of connectivity. The village is in a danger zone and despite repeated attempts by the village to ask the government to relocate them nothing has happened. And today the situation is such that they have all had to leave their homes and live in a tent accommodation.
Harikrishna, the village head says, :" it has been over 15 days since the tragedy has struck but no government authorities have visited us yet". Tata Relief Committe's staff were the first to visit us son after the disaster. They even stayed with us for one night in our village and experienced our plight themselves.."
Due to the difficulty in reaching this village to distribute the relief material, the villagers of Jadau decided they will come to Uttarkashi and collect their own relief items. Prior to getting relief from TRC, the villagers have been visiting Uttarkashi in the hope to meet the district authorities and get some help. But to no vain.
So far the villages say the government has only set up a medical camp. But more than anything right now what we need is a roof on top of our head and food to eat, they add unanimously.
Similar is the case with villages such as Pilang, Shayaba, Loonthru to name a few. In Shyaaba, the villagers have lost their one main livelihood - agriculture land. Shyaaba. was rich in vegetables. Infact, the Uttarkashi bazaar got its vegetables from Shyaaba. It's understood from the preach and of the village that the annual income of each family was close to Rs 50,000 to Rs 60,000. With the road connectivity having been lost these villagers are also facing the problem of medical aid. Those ailing have not been to come to town for their regular checkups.
This is not the first time that Jadau, Pilang, Shyaaba and the nearby villages are facing this tragedy. In 2010 and 2012 floods too the villagers faced the same issue but it wasn't this worse. After an assessment by the government administration, the villagers were told that they would be relocated. "Twice an assessment of our village was done-in 20010 and in 2012. A proposal for relocation was accepted. We have all the documents but we never relocated and today we have lost everything after this disaster," says Rana from Shyaaba. Since then the assessment has remained on paper. The has been no action taken in relocating them.
The future of these remote villages and hamlets of flood ravaged Uttarakhand seems to be still bleak. No less than 96 villages in Bhatwari block alone in Uttarkashi district are devastated by natural causes in the past and were yet to be relocated. Now the scenario is such the the current devastation has made it practically impossible and crippled the government to be able to rehabilitate such large numbers of disaster hit villages.
The situation of these villages is also extremely backward. In the current scenario, all the men here are unemployed and their first priority as of now is to save themselves and their family.
The kids education levels are extremely low as the teachers don't come full time because these villages are remote. "the kids go to school 3kms away. now that has stopped too as there are no roads and the bridge that they need to cross to get to school has also broken", says Rana. .
In the current scenario what has also become necessary in these villages is medical aid. INME , an adventure sport company is conducting medical camps in most of these villages. Their team of mountaineers are accompanied by a doctor are examining the villagers and then administrating drugs. Some of the common ailments are skin problems such as itching, stomach problems such as aches and cramps and diarreah and acidity. Many of them who are already suffering from some ailments have been unable to come to town for treatment at the district hospital.
As of now the villagers say we have no clue what we are in for in the days to come. As of now we are taking each day as it comes, they say.
Tata Relief Committee had initially adopted around 6 villages in this region namely DIdsari- ( new and Old ) , Pillang, Jadaou, Bhayana, Shyaba and Lungthru which are completely remote and cut off from road connectivity and villagers have lost their homes. With at Total of 40 families in Jadau which amounts to a population of approximately 200 people, the village has lost all access to any kind of connectivity. The village is in a danger zone and despite repeated attempts by the village to ask the government to relocate them nothing has happened. And today the situation is such that they have all had to leave their homes and live in a tent accommodation.
Harikrishna, the village head says, :" it has been over 15 days since the tragedy has struck but no government authorities have visited us yet". Tata Relief Committe's staff were the first to visit us son after the disaster. They even stayed with us for one night in our village and experienced our plight themselves.."
Due to the difficulty in reaching this village to distribute the relief material, the villagers of Jadau decided they will come to Uttarkashi and collect their own relief items. Prior to getting relief from TRC, the villagers have been visiting Uttarkashi in the hope to meet the district authorities and get some help. But to no vain.
So far the villages say the government has only set up a medical camp. But more than anything right now what we need is a roof on top of our head and food to eat, they add unanimously.
Similar is the case with villages such as Pilang, Shayaba, Loonthru to name a few. In Shyaaba, the villagers have lost their one main livelihood - agriculture land. Shyaaba. was rich in vegetables. Infact, the Uttarkashi bazaar got its vegetables from Shyaaba. It's understood from the preach and of the village that the annual income of each family was close to Rs 50,000 to Rs 60,000. With the road connectivity having been lost these villagers are also facing the problem of medical aid. Those ailing have not been to come to town for their regular checkups.
This is not the first time that Jadau, Pilang, Shyaaba and the nearby villages are facing this tragedy. In 2010 and 2012 floods too the villagers faced the same issue but it wasn't this worse. After an assessment by the government administration, the villagers were told that they would be relocated. "Twice an assessment of our village was done-in 20010 and in 2012. A proposal for relocation was accepted. We have all the documents but we never relocated and today we have lost everything after this disaster," says Rana from Shyaaba. Since then the assessment has remained on paper. The has been no action taken in relocating them.
The future of these remote villages and hamlets of flood ravaged Uttarakhand seems to be still bleak. No less than 96 villages in Bhatwari block alone in Uttarkashi district are devastated by natural causes in the past and were yet to be relocated. Now the scenario is such the the current devastation has made it practically impossible and crippled the government to be able to rehabilitate such large numbers of disaster hit villages.
The situation of these villages is also extremely backward. In the current scenario, all the men here are unemployed and their first priority as of now is to save themselves and their family.
The kids education levels are extremely low as the teachers don't come full time because these villages are remote. "the kids go to school 3kms away. now that has stopped too as there are no roads and the bridge that they need to cross to get to school has also broken", says Rana. .
In the current scenario what has also become necessary in these villages is medical aid. INME , an adventure sport company is conducting medical camps in most of these villages. Their team of mountaineers are accompanied by a doctor are examining the villagers and then administrating drugs. Some of the common ailments are skin problems such as itching, stomach problems such as aches and cramps and diarreah and acidity. Many of them who are already suffering from some ailments have been unable to come to town for treatment at the district hospital.
As of now the villagers say we have no clue what we are in for in the days to come. As of now we are taking each day as it comes, they say.
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