Shimla: Mannu Devi’s younger son Sagar is refusing to leave his one-room house in Shimla’s Krishna Nagar. The walls are riddled with cracks ever since a landslide reduced much of the locality to rubble as the rest of the country celebrated Independence Day on 15 August. But he won’t budge.
“They just told him to leave. They didn’t tell him where to go,” rues Mannu Devi, who rushed to Shimla from Ambala after her sons sent her videos of the devastation. “I tried everything. I have just gotten back from his house. I cried, begging him to come.”
“He’s worried someone will steal his stuff,” says his elder brother Suraj.
Mannu Devi and the rest of the family are now huddled in Ambedkar Bhawan, a community centre sheltering families evacuated from their homes after Krishna Nagar was declared a disaster zone. Around 250 residents have been displaced from the neighbourhood.
A ruthless monsoon has ravaged the hill state of Himachal Pradesh, triggering devastation that has claimed 346 lives so far. The rainy season usually begins in June, but local residents say it has been pouring since end-March. Flash floods and landslides have destroyed 2,200 homes and damaged another 10,000, according to Onkar Chand Sharma, principal secretary, disaster management.
Chief Minister Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu said his state has suffered losses worth Rs 10,000 crore, and it will take a year to rebuild it. Among the worst-hit areas are Solan, Shimla, Kangra, Mandi, and Hamirpur. In Mandi district, an entire village was reportedly evacuated.
Until 15 August, Krishna Nagar was a picturesque neighbourhood, with houses of all colours packed close together in rows over hill slopes, tucked amid tall trees. As the landslide hit, eight homes fell like a pack of cards, collapsing on a newly-built slaughterhouse. Two people lost their lives.
ThePrint visited Ambedkar Bhawan and Samudayak Bhawan, two community centres that are providing families — including those who lost their homes and those evicted from damaged houses — with a place to sleep and three meals a day. Samudayak Bhawan has barely any occupants, but at Ambedkar Bhawan, the affected families sit in tight-knit circles, talking to each other softly. As a local government representative enters, there is a flurry of activity at the centre, and queries are made about the families and their requirements. As the representative leaves, the conversations resume.
Only a handful of them managed to bring along their belongings. Mannu Devi’s elder son, Suraj, is trying to recover some of his family’s possessions. “I have spent Rs 2,500 on this alone,” she says. Both her sons work as drivers.
Sagar’s wife and children sit close to Mannu Devi, watching something on a phone, not saying a word. Their home is rented, but Suraj owns his, bought with a loan of Rs 2.5 lakh. Sagar drives a truck that carries construction equipment, and Suraj a taxi for tourists. They earn between Rs 9,000 and Rs 10,000 per month.
Sagar’s wife and children at Ambedkar Bhawan | Praveen Jain | ThePrint
Principal secretary Sharma, quoted earlier, told ThePrint: “Relief and rescue work is on. We are providing relief as per the relief manual, which was revised recently. As far as rehabilitating the families is concerned, we are making a plan. So far, the priority is relief work. The chief minister, revenue minister have also assured people in this regard. Those who have lost everything in the disaster will get land as per the law.”
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‘Ek chammach bhi nahi hoga’
As immediate relief, Krishna Nagar residents whose houses were completely destroyed in the landslide received Rs 12,000, while renters received Rs 2,500. The rest have received no aid so far, say the families put up at Ambedkar Bhawan.
Krishna Nagar Councillor Bittu Kumar told ThePrint: “Homeowners got Rs 12,500, and tenants were supposed to get Rs 2,500. But there was no proper system. I told the DC to give compensation even to those who developed cracks and had vacated, but it did not happen.”
Residents of the upscale Summer Hill, where a temple collapsed, killing at least 20 people, have also been evacuated. Both Summer Hill and Krishna Nagar are built over natural springs, making their foundation more vulnerable to torrential rain, explains Tikender Singh Panwar, former deputy mayor of Shimla.
Mannu Devi is worried for Sagar, concerned that his house will crumble around him. But she doesn’t know what else she can do. “Only the government is responsible for my son now,” she says. “Agar use kuch hoga, phir main lungi panga (If anything happens to him, then I will take them on).”
But for now, “we just sit quietly,” she says. “Government officials only talk to who they think is important. This is the status of poor people.”
People who can move on, have. Some renters have secured homes in other areas of Shimla. They have started going back to work. Children want to go back to school, but some of them, like Lata Ghai’s daughters Raina and Ragini, can’t. “Our books and uniforms were washed away,” says Raina, 12. She and her younger sister are in matching pink t-shirts. “School has opened. But how do we go?”
Lata Ghai and her family were returning from Punjab when they heard that their home was gone. She estimates their losses have gone up to Rs 2-2.5 lakh.
“Ek chammach bhi nahi hoga (you won’t even find a spoon),” says Lata’s mother-in-law, laughing. Her husband and son are scouring the site, digging and searching to see if there is anything that can be salvaged. Five days after the landslide, all that remains is a pile of rubbish –– broken pillars, pieces of brick, fragments of wood and fallen trees.
When ThePrint visited the site, there was not a single person present. The only signs of movement was the wagging tail of a dog.
Lata knows it’s a long shot, but still has hope. “Kya pata (who knows),” she says.
Evacuated residents came to Ambedkar Bhawan with everything they could carry, including their pets. Annie the labrador sits chained to a corner. She stretches, barks, wags her tail, but attention is seldom paid to her. She can’t be untied, in case she bites someone. Shahid, one of the evacuees, pets her and feeds her a couple of biscuits.
“Doggy ki kismat acchhi hai. (The dog is lucky),” says Ragini, Lata’s younger daughter, quick to mention that her nickname is ‘Gulu’.
With inputs from Saurabh Chauhan
(Edited by Gitanjali Das)