injured labourers receive treatment at a military hospital following an avalanche, at Joshimath, in Chamoli district, Uttarakhand, on March 1, 2025.
| Photo Credit: PTI
Vijay Kumar, 20, from Prataptand village of Vaishali district in Bihar is one of the 55 workers who were present at the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) project site at Mana in Uttarakhand’s Chamoli district when an avalanche hit the site at 5 a.m. on Friday. Mr Kumar, the youngest of five siblings, left home last year in search of work so that he could share the burden of his father, a farmer facing an agricultural crisis.
The family spoke to Vijay Kumar the last time on Thursday night when he told them about the approval for leave he had obtained.
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“He got the train reservation done for March 2. His leave for Holi was approved only a day before. He was happy about returning home for the festival but now we have no idea whether we will ever be able to see his face or not,” said Sanjay Kumar, the elder brother of Vijay.
Back home, his mother is inconsolable and has not eaten anything since news about the avalanche broke out. The family, comprising mostly daily wagers, are collecting money to get a taxi to travel to Chamoli as they are not able to get any information of his survival.
The family of Naresh Rajat, another worker at the BRO site, lives a few metres from Mr. Kumar’s place in the Prataptand village. Father of three, Mr. Rajat is the sole earning member of the family of six.
His wife Pinky Kumari has faith that her husband is alive and will soon come back home.
“I am told that he is at the camp,” she told The Hindu over phone.
‘No clarity on survivors’
“I called up at least 15 times on the helpline issued by the Uttarakhand government since Friday evening and the only response I received is that the details of the rescued persons is not available,” said Rajeev Paswan, brother of Dheeraj Paswan, 36, of Sarai Damodarpur in Bihar who is also missing at Mana.
Speaking to The Hindu, authorities of the Indian Army said that the BRO being the main hiring agency is compiling the list of those who were rescued and the dead.
Nandkishore Joshi, District Disaster Response Officer, Chamoli, said that a list of names of the persons rescued and those who died is being compiled.
“So far we know the names of 23 persons who were rescued on Friday. The last list is yet to come,” he added.
The extent of the calamity and the number of those dead would have been higher had this not been February, the time of the year when villagers of Mana move to Gopeshwar as part of winter migration, said Pitambhar Molpha, the village headman.
“The villagers live in Mana from April to November, during the Char Dham Yatra. After that, we move to Gopeshwar, in our winter homes. The avalanche hit the mouth of the village. Had we been there, the disaster would have been much bigger and many more lives would have been lost,” he added.
Published – March 01, 2025 07:04 pm IST