PM meets one-year-old who lost parents in Mandi cloudburst, 20 disaster survivors

Prime Minister Narendra Modi undertook an aerial survey of the flood-affected areas of Himachal Pradesh today and met with over one-year-old Nitika, who had lost her parents in a cloudburst that struck Talwara village in the Gohar area of Mandi district on the night of June 30.

Nitika, then 11-month old, has emerged as the face of the monsoon disaster in Himachal that has rendered thousands of families homeless and claimed 370 lives. Modi, during an interaction at the Gaggal airport in Kangra, met with Nitika and 20 other survivors, who had lost their loved ones and everything else to unprecedented heavy rainfall during the ongoing monsoon season.

“The Prime Minister showered affection on Nitika as she sat in his lap and assured us that the entire cost of her education and rearing will be taken care of,” said Kirna, paternal aunt of Nikita who is now taking care of her. She along with three other flood-affected persons had come from Mandi to meet the Prime Minister.

The Prime Minister shared the grief of 20 other persons, who had also lost their loved ones, homes and land in the rain disaster. He said that the Union Government would work closely with the state government during this difficult time and extend all possible assistance to the affected families.

Nitika, now around 14 months old, lost her father Ramesh Kumar (31), mother Radha Devi (24) and grandmother Poonam Devi (59) when a landslide hit their house. All three were washed away as they desperately tried to turn the flow of slush and debris away from their house. Mindless of a major cloudburst in the mountains above, all three were swept away leaving little behind Nikita, who was sleeping in the kitchen of the house that surprisingly didn’t suffer damage.

Nitika has been declared a ‘child of the state’ and the state government has promised to take care of her education and all other expenditure. Nitika’s aunt Kirna Devi is taking care of her. Hundreds of requests had poured in for adopting Nitika as her pictures in the arms of Sub Divisional Magistrate Samritika Negi went viral on social media immediately after tragedy struck the family.