Rakesh Rana : Uttarakhand flood survivor speaks out
"My name is Rakesh Rana. I'm from Nepal but I'm staying in India since 2003. I work as a farmer here".
He says" I worked as a farmer here. Every year we were earning Rs. One lakh to one lakh fifty thousand approximately and we saved around eighty to ninety thousand rupees. This year I invested around Rs. 18,000 in the farm and out of that I have sold crops of Rs. 5,000 only. Now I have to pay the rent for this land, which is 8,000 rupees and I don't have money left. I couldn't save my clothes, hut and other things in my hut. When we woke up around 4 in the morning on 16th, it was stinking so we checked outside the house and found our land flooded with water. Firstly, we rescued children and dropped them to the road at the top. When we came back everything was washed away, including my hut. After that we went up to the road. Now we won't get anything because we are from Nepal, not from here. We don't have any documentation left. Everything was washed away with the flood, including our Identity cards. Now we don't have any Identity proof. Most of the people know me here, they came to me to buy vegetables, but now if I will ask for compensation they will ask for my ID proof. From where will I provide documents to them? I'm a labourer. Right now I'm staying with the owner of the land in which I was working. Now I don't have employment. The flood came here around 4 in the morning. My land was flooded around 4. When I came back from the top, my hut had been washed away. After that bridge collapsed here. All my things along with my hut were washed away in the flood. I'm staying in the village on the top. Right now we have to save our lives. We have only Rs. 2,000 left with which we are surviving. We don't have any earnings for now. My crop got washed away in this flood. I will try to find some work. It is quite difficult to get any compensation. I will try to earn something here otherwise I am thinking of going back to my country (Nepal)".
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