Uttarakhand: Wounds, trauma will take time to heal

‘Wounds, trauma will take time to heal...’

* Nagpur lad Nilesh Bharne, SP (Disaster Control) in Uttarakhand, saw the devastation in Kedarnath and came to conclusion that mammoth task lay ahead

By Kartik Lokhande 

“Devastation is massive. Trauma is too deep to fathom. Roads might be constructed in some time. What about the scars on hearts and minds? The wounds and trauma will take time to heal,” feels Nilesh Bharne, an IPS officer posted in Uttarakhand.
Bharne, who hails from Nagpur city, is Superintendent of Police (Disaster Control) in flood-ravaged Uttarakhand. He saw it all -- destroyed landscape, slush-covered plains, raging rivers, semi-decomposed bodies, mass cremations, battered infrastructure, horrifying scenes of traumatised people waving frantically to get evacuated to safer places. He was entrusted with making arrangements for the most difficult task in the entire relief and rescue operations -- mass cremations of people at Kedarnath.

Nilesh Bharne, SP (Disaster Control), Uttarakhand

“It was a disturbing scene. So many people had got separated from their families... forever. We arranged for cremations of 36 people in two lots. Still, so many people are missing. Bodies of many of them might be trapped under debris. These will be recovered in days to come,” Bharne told ‘The Hitavada’ over telephone.
Throwing light on the situation there on June 16, Bharne said that cops had raised an alarm soon after rains asking people in Gaurikund area to shift to Sonprayag or other places. “Around 1,000 people responded to warning and were saved from flash-floods. However, many others could not be saved. In 14 kms track between Gaurikund and Kedarnath alone, 5,000 to 6,000 people were trapped,” he recalled.
As soon as the reports about flood fury reached Police Headquarters in Dehradun and the number of casualties increased, entire machinery swung into fastest possible action. “We established a Control Room at Police Headquarters and launched helpline numbers on our website on June 17. We compiled all necessary information and uploaded the same on website. I coordinated with various agencies for relief and rescue operations and was in touch with them consistently in Kedarnath area,” Bharne said. During the operations, Uttarakhand Police lost 14 of its personnel in Kedarnath and Rambada. Around 6,000 people were rescued from Kedarnath.

On June 19, Bharne and other officers conducted an aerial survey of Gaurikund-Kedarnath stretch. Seeing massive destruction and realising that thousands might have got stranded there, the rescue machinery came up with a novel idea. “We dropped leaflets about survival tactics in polythene bags for stranded people so that they could survive till they were evacuated by rescuers. The leaflet had all the information about which water to drink, what to eat and what not to. It also appealed people to try to clear trees for better visibility from sky and also to try and prepare for landing grounds for helicopters,” added Bharne. It yielded results at Gauri. There, people cleared trees with the help of locals. Around 3,000 people were stranded there. Later on, similar technique was used in Jungle Cheatti and Rambada.
Now that the multi-agency rescue operations were declared as over on Tuesday, all are facing the mammoth task of reconstructing infrastructure and rebuilding lives. Digging out debris amid air and water contamination and facing risk of nature taking another turn, the task ahead is another challenge. “Roads can be constructed but what about lives? Only time can heal the wounds,” said Bharne realising the scale of task ahead for all.

Published in The Hitavada CityLine on July 3, 2013