Atmosphere in Tapovan village grim as kin lose hope

Tapovan, Feb 15: As bodies are being continually pulled out of the muckfilled power project tunnel here, the atmosphere outside is getting grimmer with families of the missing people losing hope of seeing them alive. Every time a body is brought out of the adit tunnel, families waiting outside for over a week, take some time to pluck up the courage to see if the mortal remains are of a loved one or not.

And the temporary relief of not finding a family member among the dead is brief as they are soon gripped by despair when they see rescue personnel battling through tonnes of sludge choking the tunnel and are reminded that eight days have elapsed since the calamity happened. Nine bodies have so far been recovered from the tunnel at TapovanVishnugad hydel project site taking the toll in the tragedy to 54, while officials say 150 people are still missing.

Out of the three bodies recovered from the tunnel on Monday one is of Satypal Singh Bartwal from Masoli village in Pokhri area of Chamoli district. “We hoped

Satyapal would return alive. But now we will have to return home with my brother’s body. It’s unbearable,” said his elder brother in a choked voice.

Over a dozen relatives of Bartwal including his brother, who had been camping at Tapovan village since the day the tragedy struck, broke down inconsolably after identifying the body.

The crowd of disheartened relatives at the tunnel site has begun to disperse. Those who remain are found hanging around the mortuary where the bodies are being brought one after another.

Relatives of Jitendra, a resident of Jammu brought out dead from the tunnel on Sunday are also packing up to leave.

“Seven of us had come from Jammu after we heard of the glacial disaster in Chamoli on February 7 and my brother’s phone was switched off. We had been scouring different areas of Tapovan and Joshimath for four days in search of Jitendra until his body was brought out of the tunnel on Sunday. It's tragic,” Jitendra's younger brother Pavan said.

Mother Chuttku Devi and other family members of Mithilesh Kumar, who has been missing after flash floods in Chamoli district of Uttarakhand, at her village Chokad, in Ramgarh district of Jharkhand on Monday.