Uttarakhand flashflood: Power plant official lacking, his son waits – with hope

EACH TIME somebody talked about that one other physique has been pulled out of the particles, Salik Zargar pushed previous officers engaged within the rescue and reduction operations to examine if it was his lacking father. Each time, the physique was that of another person and the 24-year-old would return relieved, but anxious.
Salik mentioned he needed to imagine that there was nonetheless an opportunity that his father, Basharat Zargar (52), was alive.
At Raini village, round 8 km forward of Tapovan, lies the Rishiganga Power Plant. Like at Tapovan, many working on the plant and some residents of the villages round are lacking. However, officers on the web site say they don’t seem to be in search of survivors anymore.
Salik, a scholar at a Noida college, and his uncle Shabir Zargar, who lives in Srinagar, reached the village after efforts to contact Basharat over the phone failed – after the flood hit the realm on February 7.

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Basharat had been working with the Kundan Group, which owns the now destroyed Rishiganga Power Project, for greater than a 12 months, mentioned Shabir. In his capability as the final supervisor of the challenge, Basharat labored from Delhi however would usually go to the plant right here.
“The plant was undergoing maintenance and was shut but a lot of people were here because machine maintenance was underway. I spoke to Basharat at 10.13 am on Sunday when he asked if everything was fine at home. I told him I was busy and would call back in 15-20 minutes. When I called at 10.35 am, his phone was switched off. An acquaintance called him around 10.30 and could barely hear his voice once before everything went silent,” mentioned Shabir, including that they are going to be staying right here for 2 or three extra days.
Basharat’s household mentioned nobody from the Kundan Group has contacted them up to now. “We came here after seeing the videos. The least the company could have done was to tell us,” mentioned Shabir.
Attempts to achieve Kundan Group representatives had been unsuccessful.

Bhavan Rana, 32, the sarpanch of Raini village, mentioned two individuals from the village, together with his aunt, had been lacking since Sunday. “From the nearby village as well, four or five people have gone missing. Many of them were near the river when the slush and water came. We have no hope,” he mentioned.
The worry of one thing comparable taking place once more is rife within the space and, in consequence, individuals are sleeping in greater reaches as a substitute of their properties.
“This will continue for a couple of days, at least. We move up around 7 pm because everyone is scared that there will be another flood and this time we will not be saved,” he mentioned.
Meanwhile, Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday knowledgeable the Rajya Sabha of the flash flood scenario in Uttarakhand saying as of seven pm on Monday, 20 individuals had been killed and 6 injured with an additional 197, together with 12 villagers, lacking after the deluge. He mentioned that on February 7, a landslide triggered a “snow avalanche” overlaying roughly 14 sq. kilometers, thereby inflicting a flash flood in Chamoli district. The excellent news nonetheless, Shah mentioned, was that there was no hazard of downstream flooding and the rise in water stage had been contained. —ENS, Delhi