With her mobile phone in hand, Seema Mangal, 42, sits anxiously in front of the TV screen in her Borivli home. She has not heard from her two children, who had gone on a holiday to Kashmir with four other family members, for the past 48 hours.
The heavy floods that hit the state have left thousands stranded, waiting to be evacuated. Purushottam, 64, Kumkum, 58, Ram, 70, and Kailash Agarwal, 65, along with Eshaan, 13, Khushbu, 19, were put up in a hotel in Srinagar named Grand Mamta near the Dal lake. No one has heard from them for the past 2 days.
Tears stream down Seema's face as she speaks to dna. "I last spoke to Eshaan on Sunday at 7 pm. He was terrified. He is an asthma patient and the temperature there has dropped to 12°C. He is also hydrophobic, so I am very worried. We have tried every possible means to contact them. We can't even get in touch with their tour manager," says Seema.
When she last spoke to her mother, the water had reached up to the basement. The kitchen was under water. "I have no idea whether they have any food and water. The administration is absolutely not helpful," Seema adds.
Sanjay Nahar, head of 'Sarhad', an NGO which works for national peace, said, "Over the past few days it was very difficult to establish contact with any of the people there but surprisingly the lines are working today (Wednesday), but only for outgoing calls wherein people, mainly tourists from Jammu and Kashmir, can call their relatives."
On being asked whether the administration's efforts have been up to the mark, Sanjay says, "We cannot blame the higher authorities as they themselves have been stuck there and are trying hard to evacuate as many people they can. We have contacted the hotels there. There are almost 300-350 people who are safe around the Dal lake, and these include tourists from the Grand Mamta hotel," he said.
"The spirit of supportiveness is proving beneficial for the people. We are conducting a meeting today (Wednesday) to provide them basic facilities. From tomorrow night we will start working out our plan," he said.
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