Deep in Chhattisgarh’s Naxal heartland, a routine river crossing ended in unimaginable horror for one family, all four members lost to the Indravati’s depths after their boat capsized. Saturday marked the grim closure with the last corpse retrieved, capping a challenging operation in inhospitable wilds.
Trapped in thorny bushes a full kilometer away was 70-year-old Bhado. Preceding that, young Sunita Kawasi, 25, surfaced 500 meters off-site. The most evocative find: Podia, 45, and toddler Rakesh bound by towel, her last-ditch effort to safeguard him in the torrent.
The toll: Podia, Rakesh, Sunita Kawasi, and elder Bhado. This towel-tethered duo underscores the profound despair of a mother shielding her babe till the end.
Compounding the misery, Sannu labors obliviously in Andhra Pradesh. Maoist shadows and signal voids block communication, leaving kin hesitant to deliver the blow remotely.
En route back from Uspari bazaar, the overloaded craft with nearly twelve faltered against surging currents, ejecting four to watery graves. Maoist zones like Abujhmad lack crossings beyond rickety boats, a vulnerability laid bare.
Elders speak of the river’s perennial menace, peaking after monsoons in savage swells. Naxal ops have seeded security outposts, but absent roads and spans doom tribal lives. Bold infrastructure pushes are essential to end this cycle of calamity.