'We had no hope of surviving'

It was a harrowing experience for the Gargs who had gone to Srinagar for a holiday. They were among 253 people who reached Chandigarh air force station in two different aircrafts on Wednesday.

“We had no hope of surviving. It was the army who saved us. The local administration and police left us to fend for ourselves,” said Sushil Garg, 58, a resident of Sector 20, Panchkula. He runs a stationery shop in Sector-20 market.

“We reached Srinagar on September 4. I went with my wife, daughter and son-in-law. We were staying at Regal Hotel at Lal Chowk. On September 5, there were heavy rains. But there was no alert from the local government. The next day water started flooding the hotel. In an effort to escape, we waded through the water with our luggage, and luckily reached on an elevated road,” he said.

“Then, we took a taxi and shifted to Nishant hotel, which is situated on height and we thought it would be safe,” he said.

Then someone told the Gargs that if they could reach near the Raj Bhawan, they could be evacuated to Chandigarh. They somehow reached the Raj Bhawan, but there were hordes of people.

He said, “People were sleeping on roads, but there was no help from the state government. Children were hungry. We got a packed food item, which was from the central government. The local police was not intervening in the fights among the people standingin queues for evacuation,” he said.

“My son-in-law and daughter are still in Sringar, but they will come in the next flight. I think those who have reached back are lucky,” he said.