Chisoti, Aug 16: In the wooded valleys of Kishtwar, people often recall an age-old saying in the Dogri language which roughly translates to ‘’Whom Mata Machail protects, none can harm.” Nowhere did this faith ring truer than in Chisoti village during rescue operations on Friday.
Amid the devastation caused by the cloudburst, Subhash Chandra, who had been running a langar for Mata Machail pilgrims, was rescued alive after being trapped under debris for nearly 30 hours.
“Whom God saves, no one can kill is a saying here. Subhash, who has been serving devotees for so many years, feeding them selflessly, was protected by Mata herself,” said Leader of Opposition Sunil Sharma, who had been overseeing the rescue operations in the village.
He said that it is a matter of great happiness that Subhash will again be able to set up the langar and serve Mata’s devotees. “The greatest gift of his life is that Mata saved him.”
Union Minister Jitendra Singh, at a press conference in Jammu, also mentioned about Subhash’s rescue and said “he came out alive. He was part of those running langar”.
Singh said when the cloudburst-triggered flash floods struck the village on August 14, an estimated 200-300 pilgrims were in the langar and about 1,000 to 1,500 were in the area.
Subhash, from Udhampur, has long considered serving the devotees of Mata Machail his duty. Every pilgrimage season, he, along with his other colleagues, used to set up a langar (community kitchen) to feed thousands of weary yatris who trekked through the rugged mountains.
His langar, where hundreds of devotees were being fed daily, was swept away when flash floods occurred in the afternoon. Many pilgrims at the site were buried under logs and rubble.
Rescue teams of the Army, police, NDRF, SDRF and local volunteers were clearing debris near the langar on Friday when they discovered him alive. Four bodies, which were lying around Subhash, were also recovered from the same spot.
“This is the first time in the operation that someone has been rescued alive. It feels like nothing short of a blessing,” an Army official said.
