People’s frustration in a landslide and flash flood-ravaged pocket of Uttarakhand bubbled over on Sunday, with over a dozen women from Tharali, Chepdo, Sagwada and other affected villages sitting on a dharna in front of chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami’s convoy.

Dhami, apparently chastised by his BJP superiors in Delhi and told to improve his government’s public image, was visiting these villages in Chamoli district to meet the victims of Saturday’s flash flood.

The women demanded a stop to infrastructure-building in the hills’ ecologically fragile areas — blamed by experts for the repeated geological disasters — as well as better compensation and quick response when calamities strike.

They cleared the road
after about 20 minutes when Dhami promised to look into their demands.

While the government has so far admitted only one death and the destruction of 30 houses in Saturday’s flash flood, local people say at least a dozen villagers are missing — possibly drowned or buried under mud and boulders.

They say that more than 50 houses collapsed and at least 20 were damaged by the mud and stones that came down the Trishul Peak following a cloudburst.

Chepdo residents said Gangadutt Joshi, 80, had rushed to his cowshed, about 500 metres from his house, to save his cattle but was swept away by the overflowing Toonri Nullah.

“We were following Joshi but suddenly encountered a mass of water from the nullah (stream), along with falling mud and boulders,” Pradeep Butola, a villager, said.

“We ran back but Joshi was trapped. Six people suffered injuries but saved themselves somehow.”

Gangadutt’s son Devidutt Joshi, a grocer, said: “My father vanished within seconds before our eyes. There was no time to think.”

The lone death acknowledged officially so far is that of Kavita Kumari, 20, who was buried under debris at her home in Sagwada village when a landslide hit during the flash flood.

Tanuja, her younger sister, was studying in the same room with her before she felt tired and went over to another room to sleep.

“My father Narendra Singh, mother Babita and brother Divyanshu were in another room. I went to their room to sleep but Kavita continued studying,” the 19-year-old, first-year BA student said.

“We were woken by a deafening noise and found Kavita’s room filled completely with mud, stones and leaves.”

Both sisters studied at the Government Degree College in Talwari, Chamoli. Kavita was a second-year student.

Water gushing down from the high-altitude Brahmtal and Bikaltal lakes swept away a marketplace in Tharali.

“Several nullahs and small rivers originate from the Trishul Peak. Over 12 villages are liable to be affected if anything happens on the peak,” Butola said.

Dhami also visited the Kulsari relief camp and later distributed cheques for ₹5 lakh to 30 people who have lost their houses.

There were 12 people in the relief camp at the Government Polytechnic College in Kulsari, 36 at the Primary School in Chepdo, and 20 at the Primary School in Upper Bazar, Tharali.

CM’s challenge

Government sources said the repeated disasters had given some of Dhami’s BJP rivals an opportunity to argue that he was inefficient and uninterested in keeping the people in good humour.

“Dhami was summoned to Delhi on Friday and told to improve the public perception about his government or step down,” a local journalist said, asking not to be named.

“The BJP lost from more than half the seats in the recent panchayat elections in the hill districts, which too has given ammunition to Dhami’s detractors.”

He added: “The people of the hills are innocent; so they cleared the chief minister’s route once he assured them help. But things can change at the polling booths when they realise that the chief minister is helpless.”