A tragic postscript of the cloudburst that hit Talwara village in the district of Mandi of Himachal Pradesh would be the sole survivor of a family, a 10-month-old baby girl, Neetika. Her father, mother and grandmother are either dead or still missing after the natural disaster that struck the area on Tuesday.
The father of Neetika is a 31-year-old man, Ramesh Kumar, who was attempting to redirect the stream of water which belonged flooding into their home when the tragic cloudburst hit. They later found his body buried under trash. When the family was in panic, Radha Devi, 24, and her mother-in-law, 59-year-old Purnu Devi, went out looking to find Ramesh and have not been heard of since then. Rescue efforts continue, and the prospect is looking less promising every hour.
It’s neighbour, Prem Singh, who found the baby crying alone and immediately took her to Ramesh, a cousin of Balwant, a personal security officer to former Himachal Pradesh chief minister Jai Ram Thakur. Balwant informed that the local administration has promised to open a bank account in the name of Neetika, and many people came forward to say that they would like to assist the orphaned child.
The cloudburst devastated a number of regions in the Mandi district, which are Pawara, Thunag, Baidshad, Kanda and Murad. Liberated roads, power and water facilities are in a bad shape. Official statistics show that 14 people have died and at least 31 are reported missing in the region as a direct result of ten disparate incidents of cloudbursts, flash floods and landslides.
Ramesh, a poor farmer, had lost his own father at an early age as a baby and depended much on the earnings of his mother, Purnu Devi. She was a peon, working at a government school, who had only seven months to go before her retirement. The government has given an ex gratia grant of 25000 rupees as immediate assistance to Neetika.
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