Girl gets new family after losing all relatives in landslide

BHIWANDI: For more than a month now, 23-year-old Pooja Kondilkar, a resident of the fateful Taliye village in Mahad, keeps returning to the sight of the landslide that killed her entire family.

Only the bodies of her father and aunt were recovered while those of her younger brother and mother were never found. As a result, she was unable to give them a proper farewell.

“I visit the site every day with the hope of finding them as there is merely an empty hole in my life that I am not able to fill,” she said.

Kondilkar is the only surviving member of the family. A social organisation from Bhiwandi has now lent her a helping hand by deciding to pay for her education, her marriage and day-to-day expenses. They had promised to look after her well being even after she is married.

The group had gone to conduct rescue operations in Mahad and met Kondilkar.

Kondlikar’s family came to Mumbai in July to attend a wedding. While the others returned, Kondilkar stayed in Mumbai. She was saved when the entire village was buried in the July 23 landslide in which 84 villagers lost their lives but only 40 bodies have been recovered so far.

Kondilkar said, “On the day of the incident, I was trying to reach most of the people from the village but was not able to get through to anyone. I could reach home four days later when there was nothing remaining. My 21-year-old brother wanted to join the army. He was good at studies. Many people are helping me but I have lost those I loved.”

Pradeep Shetty, who founded the organisation and owns a hotel in Bhiwandi, provided groceries to the villagers and also helped in the cleaning work.

“We have helped the villagers to settle down in the last month. We came to know that three women in the village have lost their families. The other two had support from their maiden homes. However, Pooja had no one. So, we decided to take care of her future. She has tied rakhi on my hand and I pledged to be there whenever she needed help in the future.”

Kondilkar said that she plans to take up tailoring and Shetty has enrolled her in a course for the same.

HT PHOTO Pooja Kondilkar ties rakhi on Pradeep Shetty’s wrist.