NDRF team leaves for Bara Bhangal to map valley

Lalit Mohan

Tribune News Service

Dharamsala, October 20

While all shepherds have come out of Bara Bhangal safely, the National Disaster Management Force (NDRF) left for the valley today. The team reached Multhan, the last tehsil connected by road before the track to the Bara Bhangal valley starts.

Leader of the team Hari Om said on the phone that they were leaving to prepare a map of the area for better understanding of the track. The team would go up to Bara Bhangal village.

However, the NDRF team has drawn the ire of the shepherds and volunteers involved in rescue operations.

Akshay Jasrotia, an activist from Baijnath, who was involved in the rescue operations, said the team should have been involved in relief and rescue operations. By going into the valley when all shepherds had been rescued was a wastage of money.

Meanwhile, the rescued shepherds, along with their livestock, have reached Multhan. Many of them had tales of their misery.

Roshan Lal said they got trapped in Bara Bhangal village due to heavy snow at Thumsar Pass on September 21. “We made a few attempts on our own to cross Thumsar but the pass had about 10 to 12 feet snow and it was impossible to cross. We left stranded in the valley. Our ration was almost finished. We lost many sheep and goats as there was not enough grass to feed them. It was only after the intervention of the district administration that a PDS shop in Bara Bhangal started given them ration,” he said.

Rangeela Ram, another shepherd, said about 50 per cent of his goats and sheep perished. I had frostbite in my feet and many animals are also suffering from it. I do not know if they will survive or not,” he said.

Most of the shepherds are yet to reach their homes. They are in Multhan to get their sheep sheared. Lachhu Ram said they had requested the wool federation to send their sheep-shearing machines here at the earliest.

Jasrotia said the state government should provide financial relief to the shepherds for the loss of their livestock in snow. Many shepherds had lost half of their livestock. The entire flock of about 500 livestock of Rakesh Kumar, the shepherd who died in Bara Bhangal, had perished, he said.