No hope“I have to bear the loss all by myself”

By Kaushik Bhattacharya

Shrikant Deshpande, a retired insurance company officer and a resident of Shankar Nagar, behind LAD College, also witnessed the wrath of flood that claimed five lives, besides public and private properties in Nagpur on September 23. Deshpande, who helped many flood victims to get their claims from insurance companies after the flood, is still waiting for his claim to be settled even after more than one month of the disaster. “We had Mahalaxmi puja at our home on September 22, and we slept around 1.30 am after the celebration. We were so tired that we did not know when it started raining. It was only around 5.30 am on September 23 when we realised that water was gushing into our house,” Deshpande told ‘The Hitavada’. “We were totally caught off guard. Muddy water was filling fast into our home, submerging all the furniture. In less than two hours, the flood swept away everything in its path. Outside, all the vehicles looked submerged,” he explained.

Their desperate attempts to save their belongings failed as the water levels rose rapidly. “I and my wife were alone in the house and were helpless, but still tried to gather and shift all the expensive items at home to a safer place. Looking at the muddy water, we rushed to get the Mahalaxmi idols and secure all the jewellery used to decorate the idols,” he said. When the couple realised that the water level was increasing, they tried to open the door of their staircase that goes to the first floor of the house. But the door was jammed due to water. They used a hammer, and when the door broke open, he was swept five feet inside due to force of the water. He even suffered a minor injury. “Some of the residents climbed the roof tops and waited for the rescue boats. We too went to the first floor and stayed there for over four hours till the flood water subsided. It was a scary experience, which I will never forget. We decided to prepare ourselves for a flood during the monsoon season in the future,” he said. Their lives were saved, but they couldn’t save their vital belongings such as electrical appliances, furniture, wooden flooring, beds, car and two-wheelers. Everything got spoilt in the flood, he said, adding that the aftermath of the flood was more painful. “Due to muddy water everything was spoiled and damaged and the house was not liveable. It needed a lot of cleaning and repairs. We lived at our daughter’s and relatives’ place for nearly a month because of this,” he said.

“My two daughters, sons-in-law, their friends came to our house to help clean the whole premises from the very next day. It took four days to complete the cleaning work. Till then we started other maintenance of the house, including wall painting, repairing of doors, windows, furniture, cleaning of underground tank, etc,” explained Deshpande. Even though his house was affected due to the flood, Deshpande was well prepared as he had already insured everything. “The flood this time was bad, but I already have insurance. I sympathise with those who have no insurance for their property,” he said. Deshpande is now summing up all his losses and is hoping to recover at least half of them through insurance. He said he was likely to get the claim for his car loss from the insurance company within 2-3 days. “I have no hope of getting anything from the government or the administration for my losses. They will pay nothing, I know. I have to bear all the loss for whatever happened, and I am preparing myself for that,” he said. The Deshpandes bore a loss of Rs 10 lakh for his car and another Rs 8 lakh for other household items such as equipment and furniture. More than a month has passed since the flood and the subsequent devastation on September 23, but the flood victims are still suffering the consequences, and struggling to normalise their lives.