UTTARKASHI: Five days after the flash flood flattened Uttarkashi’s Dharali village, residents were given cheques of Rs 5,000 each as “immediate relief” Friday. Calling the relief money “grossly inadequate” given the scale of destruction, many refused to accept it, saying it was an “insult to our suffering.” “We have lost everything, our families, homes, businesses worth crores. This amount is an insult,” one villager said.Residents said since there was no electricity in the area following the disaster, candle packets were distributed to them but they arrived only four days after the disaster. “We spent those nights in darkness. Used firewood to heat food. Govt talks about ration, but that, too, has not reached us. We had to go door to door looking for it,” one of them said.On Friday, villagers staged protests outside offices of the DM and sub-divisional magistrate, shouting “Modi Ghaam taapo” over the slow trickle of aid. PM Modi had visited Harsil and Mukhba in March and had used the phrase to promote winter tourism in the area. Those very villages are now struggling for basic facilities, a protester said. A disaster management officer said the Rs 5,000 cheques were an immediate measure, and full extent of losses is still being assessed.
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