Kangra (Himachal Pradesh), Sep 9 (IANS) She was just 11 months old, fast asleep, when the raging waters came calling. Her parents and grandmother stepped out to divert the flood that threatened their home. They never returned. Only the baby remained -- untouched, as if the monsoon fury had paused at her cradle.
When Prime Minister Narendra Modi visits Himachal Pradesh on Tuesday at noon, Neetika will be among the 21 survivors he meets.
The little girl, now in the care of relatives, is the only surviving member of her family after the July disaster that ravaged the hill state, leaving hundreds of families homeless and tourists stranded.
Her presence, fragile yet unbroken, has come to symbolise both the devastation and the miracle of survival. For Himachal Pradesh, she’s the face of a tragedy that statistics cannot capture.
She had a miraculous escape on the intervening night of June 30 and July 1, when a flash flood triggered by a cloudburst struck Talwara village in Gohar sub-division in Mandi district.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is visiting flood-affected regions of Punjab and Himachal Pradesh to review the ongoing disaster response and rehabilitation efforts following severe monsoon-triggered floods and landslides that have wreaked havoc across northern India.
The youngest survivor, Neetika, whose parents, Ramesh Kumar, 31, and Radha Devi, 24, along with her grandmother Poonam Devi, 59, were struck by a landslide and swept all three away.
The body of her father was found close to the house, but her mother and grandmother remain untraceable.
A photo of Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM) Samritika Negi holding Neetika in her arms has gone viral, capturing hearts across India.
The child is currently being raised by her aunt Kirna Devi, who resides in the same village where the disaster struck.
Neetika has been declared a “child of the state”, meaning the government has pledged full support for her upbringing, education and professional studies.
An official privy to the development told IANS that at the Gaggal airport near Kangra, where the Prime Minister is coming at around 2 p.m., he will meet 21 survivors of landslides and flash floods.
Also, he’s chairing a meeting with state and central government functionaries to review the damage and assess the loss from natural disasters.
Chief Minister Sukhvinder Sukhu and senior BJP leaders led by Leader of Opposition Jairam Thakur and state party chief Rajeev Bindal are also set to attend the meeting.
PM Modi is expected to do an aerial survey of Mandi, Kullu and Chamba, the state’s worst-affected districts.
The youngest survivor belongs to the Seraj Assembly constituency of BJP leader Jairam Thakur, who played a crucial role in facilitating the Prime Minister’s Office to compile the list of survivors.
The other survivors who are likely to meet the Prime Minister include Mukesh from Thunag village in Mandi district, who lost the entire family members comprising parents, wife and a child.
The other survivors are Inder Singh from Nachan and Krishna from Mandi town. While the former lost wife and three daughters in a landslide, and the latter lost two sons, a daughter-in-law and a grandson.
Just ahead of the Prime Minister’s visit to the state, a massive landslide occurred in Sharmani village in Kullu’s Nirmand, claiming one life and three were rescued.
Chief Minister Sukhvinder Sukhu said the state has suffered a loss of over Rs 5, 000 crore, with the maximum damage to the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) highways. Also, state roads have been badly impacted.
Terrifying visuals of landslides sweeping away several multi-storey buildings and hundreds of people being evacuated and rescuers searching for people feared missing in the northern Himalayan state were common in the July, August and September calamity, which claimed 371 deaths, 41 missing and extensive infrastructure damage across the state.