Devendra Bhattarai

Seventy-two-year-old Karbir Kami of Kalikot, who is in Dehradun to rescue his family members stranded due to the June 16 flash floods and landslides in Uttarakhand, could not meet all his stranded kin. His son Suraj Bahadur Kami and son-in-law Jaya Bahadur Kami were confirmed to have been killed in the disasters. Karbir said both Suraj and Jaya along with their family members had gone to Kedarnath in search of job opportunities on June 1.

Suraj and Jaya are reported to have gone to Kedarnath to work as a porter leaving behind their family members in rented rooms in Karnaprayag.

“My 68-year-old sister Susuma may be waiting in Nepal for her husband (Karbir) along with the family members of Suraj and Jaya to come back home. Our family had never faced such incident,” said Jyoti Kumar Kami, one of Karbir’s relatives, over telephone. Jyoti Kumar is working in Mussoorie in India.

He said Karbir’s 12 family members were provided with IRs 2,000 each as travel expenses by the Uttarakhand government on Saturday at the request of Surya Bikram Shahi, chairman of the Gorkha Democratic Front in Dehradun.

The family members were also provided with free transport service till Nepal-India border, he said. Hundreds of Nepali pilgrims are still missing though the Uttarakhand government said the rescue work is over.

Published on: 8 July 2013 | The Kathmandu Post