Lost eight members of the family, still serving others

Dinesh Bagwadi, Lamgoundi, Rudraprayag

I am a witness to the devastating natural calamity that stuck Devbhoomi Kedarnath on July 16 and 17 this year. The rains continued to lash Kedarnath since morning of July 16. At around 8 pm the river Mandakini was flowing with terrifying roar and with such a great speed that two bridges were swept away by the gushing waters. My family members and I too were terrified and shocked. I went out at 8.15 pm to take stock of the situation in Kedarnath. After a two-hour walk, I observed that most of the pilgrims and local people were shocked to see this fury of the nature. I consoled them. We did not sleep on 16th night. I again ventured out of my hotel on the 17th morning.

I went to the side of the temple and to its backyard only to see that the surging waters of Mandakini had washed away the guest house of Temple Committee, some parts of Bharat Sewashram and some individual houses in the dead of the night. I also got information that two of my younger cousins became victims of the nature’s fury. I started searching for their bodies and could locate one in Birla premises. But when my search for the other was on, suddenly there was commotion from Gandhi Lake side and people started running helter-skelter, shouting at each other adding confusion to the already existing chaos.

I ran towards the temple along with hundred others for safety. In the meantime, the gushing waters brought with it sand, debris, boulders and within no time Kedarnath was totally distroyed. When we came out of the temple after 15 minutes, we were shocked to see the entire town completely devastated. Almost after an hour I got the sad news that eight members of my family perished in this devastation. I was very much dejected by melancholy. Still I could gather myself together and started helping those who could be saved along with my other friends. My younger son Vinay (17) and others too joined me in this mission. But the magnitude of destruction was such that we could hardly do anything concrete to save others.

We continued our work to pacify the grief-stricken pilgrims till the morning of 18th when there was no help from the government. However, three helicopters of private company were busy in saving the people. I along with four others came to Fata in a private chopper. I talked to former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister and senior BJP leader Uma Bharati at around 3 pm on phone and informed her about the devastation and destruction of Kedarnath and sought her help to save the pilgrims and local people. Around 7 pm, Uma Bharati telephoned me to inform that she had talked to the Prime Minister and Defence Minister for rescue work of the Army. We were very grateful to Uma Bharati who in this hour of crises helped us to uphold our morale high. She also moved the government and administration to save thousands of stranded pilgrims, the act which we would remember for the rest of our life.

I busied myself in rescue and relief operations since 18th morning. My own family members who became victims of this calamity included my nephew Rohit Bagwadi, brother-in-law Roshan Towari, younger brothers Anil and Sunil, sister-in-law’s husband Rajendra Tiwari and their two siblings Himanshu and Bipin and my friend Shiv Singh. Their demise has cast a spell of gloom and worry for me.