The rescue efforts of the Kerala government in flood-affected Kashmir have been praised all round, but a group of Malayali students who got back home earlier Sunday after an uncertain week of battling water and hunger have a not-so-rosy story to tell. They say that help from the Kerala House and representatives of the State government came in the form of a series of promises and half-measures.
Mubeen Umar Rahman, P.P. Vivek, V. Muneer, Backer Mohammed, and Ashwathy, all students of the National Institute of Technology in Srinagar, waded through waist-deep water for 20 km after a promise from the help desk in Delhi to somehow reach the airport.
“After the first two days, the ground floor of our hotel got submerged and all of us shifted to Kashmir University, at a higher altitude. To get calls through from the few mobiles which were not switched off, we had to go to one of the corner rooms at the top and try for hours. We called up the personal assistant to Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala, who asked us to get to the airport and said that everything was arranged,” says P.P. Vivek, a resident of Thalassery.
The five of them travelled by bus for 10 km, walked through water for 20 km dragging their luggage, and reached the airport. But according to them, the official at the Kerala help desk told them, “Once you book the tickets, we will provide all help.” “He told us he will help us get into the flight if we get the tickets. We didn’t have any money. We called up a few friends and booked tickets through a private agency,” says Mr. Vivek.
Once the students reached the Delhi airport, two officers from the control room met them to make sure their name was on the list of stranded people.
“After verification, we were put on a taxi to Kerala House, for which we paid from our pocket. We also had to book the air tickets from Delhi to Kochi. Once we reached Kochi, there was no one here to contact, and we went straight to the railway station, from where we travelled to our respective destinations in general compartments,” he says.
