Скачать или смотреть Sikkim’s cry for help falling on deaf ears?

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In 2011, when a large earthquake struck Sikkim, Pema Lachungpa was the Medical Officer for Teesta Urja Pvt.Ltd. He was located in Gangtok at the time of the fatal earthquake with his family. The earthquake did massive damage in Chungthang.

He could have just stayed home safe with his family. But he approached his Management Office in Gangtok to airlift him to ground zero.

These kinds of people do not change with time or money. They are almost born to help those in need. This time, he evacuated people to safety and then went towards the dam’s control room to release water so that the effect of the lake burst could be reduced but they say that they last heard him on the radio “open Phase 1”.

Now, this person needs our help: his sister and other family members have appealed to everyone they can think of: from local officers to NDRF personnel to even the Prime Minister of India, yet, 4 days later, I wish I had better news for her.

I wish I had better news for all of you. Yet, I feel nothing but absolute helplessness at the plight of Sikkim. I have spoken to all and sundry, yet, I am yet to get an answer as to why no one has yet managed to rescue these fourteen people. What will it take to airlift 14 people? How is it possible that helicopters are also flying, yet when it comes to these people, the weather is not conducive?

Barring the ITBP, no one has managed to reach Chungthang. How is that even possible? How is it that the might of the NDRF and the Indian Air Force have not yet reached the town most devastated by the floods? How is the epicentre of the flood so cut off nearly 100 hours after the disaster?

Which brings me to the state politicians: for once, use your spine and speak. I know, you do not want to upset your masters because an election is coming. If you are not getting help from the Centre as desired, speak up, shout, protest and get the money. If the Centre is doing all that is needed, tell us the same and make sure help reaches people. Do not get into “it was not us, it was the Congress government that built the dam” debate. If they built a faulty dam, you let it stand. If they took bribes, you let them go unpunished. Elections can wait, but people cannot. For once, just once, will you stand up for the people you represent?

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