Last rites performed as thousands jostle for space

Prithvijit Mitra,TNN | Jul 4, 2015, Mirik: Under a pouring sky, about a thousand displaced villagers jostle for space and privacy at the Mirik Primary School. The dingy building is now serving as one of the 16 relief camps for landslide victims in Mirik. 

For sisters Roma Ale Thapa and Nilima Ale — who lost two sisters and parents in the landslide — there was no grieving in private. On Friday morning, the sisters performed the last rites in a room shared by at least 30 others. "For nine days, we are supposed to be in mourning, cut-off from the rest of the world. We must have only basic vegetarian food. But here we don't know if the next meal will be served. With so many people around we can't even cry," said Nilima. 

Conditions at the relief camp, which now houses 1,009 residents of the eight affected villages, are alarming. There is just one toilet and no drinking water. Villagers are carrying in water from a nearby tea-estate where they often have to pay for it. No medicines are available and the sick have not been treated. GTA blames the district administration for the sorry state of affairs. "While the CM wants us to act, the local administration is not cooperating. We approached the BDO for help to arrange water and medicines, but she has not responded. They have not arranged for a vehicle to transport villagers to camps or carry the dead. GTA shifted the injured to hospitals and moved the rest to relief camps," said Arun Sigshi, a GTA member. 

According to Began Thapa, a resident of Limbudora village who is now at the Mirik Primary School, 75% of the camp inmates were yet to receive proper food. "Leave alone medicines, almost everyone is starving here. Baby food has not reached the camp. Several of the elderly are seriously ill and need medicines," he said. The GTA will wait till Saturday and then officially take over the responsibility of the camps, said Sigshi. 

Limbudora village, which lost 19 lives, is now a picture of desolation. The rescue operation by Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) and NDRF is going slow. Negotiating the clay mounds, under which six bodies are still believed trapped, is difficult. "We can't use machines because the mud is too slippery. Spades and axes are all that work here, so the excavation is slow. The rain is making it tougher," said D K Singh of SSB, who is supervising the excavation work. 

Limbudora residents, however, allege that the district administration has done nothing to restore the road that links the village to Mirik. "It will take less than a day to repair the road. But the administration is not willing to take this simple step that will help us," said Mohanlal Thapa, who lost his entire family in the landslide.