Garsa, Kullu, July 18: As rescue workers search for the injured and pulled out bodies from the debris in Shilagarh, the labourers at Pravati Hyder Power Project are packing their bags.
‘‘I cannot live any longer in this hell. I am here today because the contractors owe me at least three months’ salary. Otherwise, I would have left yesterday,’’ says Nar Singh, a labourer from Chamba. He survived the cloud burst because he spent the night at a higher camp.

His friend Rakesh is seriously injured and is in hospital. ‘‘I do not want to stay here. It is difficult to forget how friends were crying for help and you were so helpless,’’ he says.
One more body was recovered today from the Pulia Nalla in Shilagarh village, taking the official toll to 19. Locals fear it may cross 100 but the administration insists the toll is around 35. Many labourers, who were neither registered with the district administration nor with contractors, are missing. Only 13 of the 19 bodies recovered have so far been identified.
The rescue operation was hampered by inclement weather. Additional DIG of Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) Kripa Ram told The Indian Express that they had lost hope of finding any more survivors 36 hours after the tragedy struck Shilagarh.

Over a dozen ITBP jawans engaged in the rescue operation looked helpless as a single bulldozer belonging to a contractor of the power project attempted to remove the debris. ‘‘We hope to unearth some bodies,’’ says Ram.

The approach road has been washed away and is being re-laid.‘‘Our only hope is that some labourers might have run away soon after the tragedy struck,’’ says another official.

The rest are now beginning to leave as the calamity has added to their list of unending woes. One common complaint is that they are not paid on time. The project is being undertaken by the National Hydel Power Corporation (NHPC) but the workers are hired by sub-contractors. ‘‘Though we get Rs 90 as daily wage, the salary is never on time. Most labourers have their dues pending for months,’’ says Lal Bahadur.

‘‘See the conditions in which we are living. We have put up the camps virtually on the river bed. We stay in makeshift shanties with horror staring us all the time,’’ says Bahadur, adding he does not have even money to buy tickets to go back to Nepal.

When contacted, Karam Chand, a spokesperson of the NHPC, confirmed such complaints were pouring in. ‘‘We do understand that problems like these do exist and labourers do not receive salaries on time. When we get the complaint, we freeze the due to the contractors so that they are first forced to pay the salaries,’’ he says.