Over a fortnight after flash floods,relief material yet to reach many villages

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At Giwani village,under Ukhimath tehsil,no relief material has reached yet. The fields adjoining the Mandakini river have been washed away. Vijender Prasad Bhatt,a villager,says that while foodgrain is reaching the villages located at lower altitudes,they haven’t got anything yet. Related: Put on record rescue is over,SC tells state

With the distance between different villages within a gram panchayat ranging between 2-10 kilometres,the distribution of relief material,which is being sent to the sarpanches,is becoming a problem.

For instance,although the Deoli-Bramhagram panchayat has been getting a lot of relief material,Shirvani — the last village under the panchayat,only accessible after a 4-km steep trek — is yet to get anything.

“Our village is a Dalit basti. The pundits who live in Deoli-Bramhagram are not sending any relief material beyond their villages. Nobody bothers to climb up here to distribute food. We have lost our men,how do they expect us to walk down all the way?” says Vinita,23,whose husband,Mahesh Lal,has been missing since the flash floods.

At the panchayat headquarters here,villagers accuse the sarpanch of stealing relief material. “At night,when the relief came,we went down to ask for our share. The sarpanch said she would distribute it in the morning. But in the morning,she said it had been stolen. How is this possible?” says Prakash Lal,a resident of Shirvani.

Sarpanch Rameshwari Devi,who admits she has not reported the theft to the police,says she is helpless. “As soon as the relief stock arrives,people fight over it,and it’s gone. Then they say I have stolen it. But where will I hide it? If I go to the police,the villagers will say I am against them. It is becoming a huge problem to distribute relief equally to all the villages,” she says.

Toshi,the last village in Kedar valley,received its first relief material this week. Although aid is being air-dropped to Triyuginarayan village,the gram panchayat headquarters,this village is losing out.

“Nobody has walked to our village to distribute relief. As and when our food finishes,we have to walk down here to get our share,” says Kunwar Singh,32,who trekked with a couple of villagers to take back foodgrain distributed by volunteers on Tuesday.

“Rice used to cost Rs 18 per kg,but it is Rs 30 today. We have one shop in our village. The owner has to pay porters to bring his stock from Guptkashi,so he is increasing the prices. We have not lost our lives in the floods,but our livelihood is gone. We all had shops in Rambada and Kedarnath. How will we sustain ourselves now?” says Raj Beniwal from Rudrapur village.

Daulat Singh,a shop-owner in Pitora village,says there are no porters to carry stocks of rice and dal,so he has been bringing packets of Maggi from Guptkashi.

“Families with 10 people are getting 1 kg of rice and dal. I have 12 family members,who do I choose to feed?” says Tiwari,a resident of Deoli,who lost his son and brother in Rambada.

The access to relief is reported to be much worse in villages like Kalimath and Gauri Gaon,still not accessible by road and completely dependent on air-dropped material.

Officials in charge of relief distribution say hoarding is not the major worry now. “We are trying to send as much relief as possible. Even if panchayat offices are storing the food,we want to send rations that will last people for a month. Distribution to all homes is a problem,so revenue officers are trying to access villages by road as far as possible,” says Bhaskar Anand,in-charge of relief distribution.