Maharashtra rains: Relatives choose to go away useless underneath particles, ‘will perform last rites here’

THREE DAYS after components of a hillock got here crashing down amid heavy rain on a village in Raigad’s Mahad taluka, killing at the least 53 folks eventually depend, officers, elected representatives and family members of the useless are watching a call that would hang-out them for the remainder of their lives: depart the useless underneath the particles, carry out their final rites on the catastrophe website.
According to officers, 11 our bodies had been recovered from Taliye village on Sunday, and 31 extra are nonetheless feared buried underneath the particles. “The bodies should not be disturbed now, they should be declared dead,” mentioned Kishor Pol, a neighborhood resident who misplaced his mother and father to the landslide.
“Since the bodies have decomposed, it’s very difficult to pull them out. It’s not good. The relatives will only suffer more pain and grief after seeing this and we do not wish the dead to be disturbed. We held a meeting to discuss this on Sunday afternoon, and all the relatives of those dead have reached a consensus,” Sampat Chandekar, the sarpanch, mentioned.

“It has been three days now and the bodies have started decomposing. The dead should have dignity. The villagers and relatives of those missing want to stop the operation and declare them dead, and perform their last rites at the accident site,” Bharatshet Gogavale, the Shiv Sena MLA from Mahad, mentioned.
“The sarpanch and I have spoken to the villagers and all them have the same demand. No one has an objection. We have conveyed this to the District Collector and discussed how to go about it. Even the rescue teams feel there is no hope of finding any survivors,” Gogavale mentioned.
A rescue employee with an toddler in Kolhapur, Saturday. (Express picture)
The family members, nonetheless, are involved concerning the paperwork wanted, and the compensation course of, if the our bodies are left underneath the particles. “The administration should ensure that the necessary paperwork is done and death certificates provided,” Pol mentioned.
Officials mentioned it isn’t a straightforward resolution for the district administration.
“Local residents and relatives of victims are demanding that the administration call off the operation and declare those missing as dead. However, the district’s disaster management team is expected to carry out the operation till the last missing person is found. There is a possibility of victims being found alive even after a few days,” District Collector Nidhi Chowdhary mentioned.
“I tried to explain that we are expected to keep the operation on till the last missing person is found and it is our policy. But they have conveyed that they want the operation to be called off. We do not want to disrespect the villager’s wishes and hurt their emotions,” Chowdhary mentioned.
On Sunday night, the difficulty was mentioned throughout a gathering of the MLA, District Collector, groups of NDRF, SDRF and TDRF, and some Taliye residents. It was determined that the operation could be referred to as off formally after the consent of each lacking particular person’s member of the family is formally obtained — and a proper communication issued by the rescue groups on calling off the operation and declaring all these lacking as useless.
MLA Gogavale mentioned one other assembly could be held Monday morning the place consent letters from the family members can be handed over. “Even if a single family member objects, the operation will continue,” the District Collector mentioned.
Meanwhile, survivors of the landslide recalled the terrifying moments of Thursday night.
The Sanas household of 14 escaped “just in time”. Dashrath Sanas mentioned he feared that an accident was about to happen when he first noticed “soil from the hill come sliding down”.
“It was unusual. I had a bad feeling and told my family to leave the house. Then, I went down to warn the villagers, many of whom had gathered at one spot with their belongings. By the time I reached them, the land came sliding down. I ran for my life and somehow survived,” mentioned Dashrath, whose home was severely broken.
Pratibha Kondalkar mentioned that she, her daughter and husband had a “lucky escape” after the sliding mud stopped wanting their home. “But my in-laws came under the debris as they were trying to leave the village. Their bodies have been recovered,” she mentioned.
“A few people had started alerting the others that mud was sliding down. My husband went out to save another person and asked us to leave the house. It was then that a big part of the hillock came crashing down,” Kondalkar mentioned.
Swapnil Shirawale, 26, survived after he was pulled out of the particles. But he misplaced each his legs.