A delegation of CPI-M, CITU, AIKS and SFI visited the disaster hit Tapovan Vishnugad Hydropower Project of NTPC in Tapovan and Rishi Ganga Project in Raini village of Chamoli district of Uttarakhand. Over 204 people are reported missing in the disaster.
Vijoo Krishnan, CPI-M Central Committee member and AIKS Joint Secretary, Rajendra Negi CPI-M State Secretary, Bhupal Singh Rawat, CPI-M Chamoli District Secretary, CITU district Secretary, Manmohan, Madan Mishra, State Committee member, CPI-M and district President CITU, State Secretary of SFI Himanshu Chauhan, Shailender, SFI leader, Purushottam Badoni, AIKS and senior journalist Ratan Mani Doval were part of the delegation.
The office of Samvida Shramik Sangh (Contract Workers' Association) affiliated to CITU which on normal days saw bustling activity with a lot of workers wore a desolate look. Hundred and fifteen workers of Ritwik construction company and twenty one workers of Om Metal Company (both under NTPC) who were working in the Project at Tapovan are untraceable since last four days.
Devinder Khanera, the President of the Union was inconsolable. He himself had managed to survive as he had come up to the Project office minutes before the disaster struck. His uncle, a nephew and a cousin were washed away and only the nephew's body was received. Devinder had stayed back to assist in the relief work and to help other distraught workers despite his personal loss. Rajinder Rawat and Rajinder Kentura both drivers in the Project barely managed to survive. One of their vehicles was washed away. Both of them are also actively involved with the activities of the union. The delegation visited the labour camp and interacted with the survivors. At the Rishi Ganga Project 56 workers are untraceable. Many workers survived only because of the fact that the disaster struck on a Sunday when the attendance was skeletal. The loss of lives otherwise would have been much higher.
There were many relatives of the missing workers who had come searching for their dear ones. The team was informed by the lone survivor from Jharkhand that 12 others were missing. Ashish a worker from Lakhimpur Kheri in Uttar Pradesh informed that around 25 workers from the district were still missing. One body was identified and taken to Lakhimpur Kheri so far. A person had come from Saharanpur looking for his nephew Sadique who was missing. There were relatives and friends of Basharat, Engineer at Rishi Ganga Project who came in search of him. Ravi who was working at Tehri project had come with his uncle looking for his brother who was also missing. The distraught relatives and friends claimed that there was no help forthcoming from the BJP led State Government and there was no assistance. So far 18 bodies were recovered and only 15 could be identified. Few mutilated parts were recovered making it almost impossible to identify the victim. Even after 4 days more than 38 workers could not be retrieved from the tunnel that is filled with silt and debris. Nearly 12 villagers including some women shepherds who had gone to graze cattle or cutting grass were also missing. In all 13 bridges have been destroyed cutting off more than 33 villages totally. One bridge on the main Highway was also destroyed. Many houses also have suffered damages.
The delegation also met the Project officers who have been standing with the workers in their hour of grief. The State Government has only announced a meagre compensation of 4 lakh to families of deceased. This is highly inadequate. NTPC announced compensation of 20 lakh and 2 lakh from Prime Minister's Relief Fund. The delegation felt that the response was insensitive and demanded 50 lakh compensation per family and a government job for one member of the bereaved family. The seriously injured must be given a compensation of 5 lakh rupees. The workers have died in the line of duty because of gross dereliction of even the minimal precautions or disaster warning protocols. The Government should immediately review the different construction activities like tunneling, blasting, drilling etc in this ecologically sensitive Nanda Devi Biosphere region. The delegation demands reconstruction of buildings like shops or houses and speedy restoration of bridges. There was only a small first aid camp by Red Cross and Khalsa Aid was serving food as well as medical aid. The Government should arrange for food and stay of relatives of victims. The predominantly tribal region should be provided with essential foodgrains. Restoration of communication and transport facilities should be taken up as a priority for this purpose.
The delegation traveled from Dehradun all the way up to Raini village taking over 14 hours to cover the 310 kilometres. Massive drilling work for the Chardham Highway as well as tunneling for railway lines in the ecologically sensitive region caused landslides and made it a tortuous journey
