PTI, THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Kerala’s major annual festival Onam was today marked by sombre mood with nearly six lakh displaced people still in relief camps even as the toll in the murderous monsoon rose to 293 and 15 people missing. Onam is celebrated with great pomp across the state, but this time around festivities are the last thing on people’s minds as they come to grip with the devastation.
The usual celebrations like “pookolam” (floral carpets) and preparing feasts were missing in many rain-affected areas while comparatively subdued elsewhere. The nature’s fury at its worst also saw the best faces of humanity as people from differnt religions came together to provide shelter to their brethren with a mosque, turned into a relief camp, hosting Onam celebrations in Alappuzha district.
According to the latest figures released by the state government, as many as 28 bodies were recovered today, pushing the toll to 293 since August 8, when the second spell of monsoon turned disastrous for the state, triggering landslides and floods.
Fifteen people are still missing, the state disaster control room sources said putting the overall toll in rain-related incidents at 445 since May 29, when South West Monsoon had set in over the southern state.
The state government has cancelled official Onam celebrations in view of the monsoon fury. Yet, forgetting their miseries, 5.97 lakh men, women and children in schools, colleges, convention halls, mosques and churches, which are doubling up as relief camps, got together to celebrate the festival in whatever manner they could.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed hope the festival will give new strength to the people to overcome the adversities. “May this Onam give further strength to the people of Kerala to overcome the adversities they have been facing for the past few days,” he wrote on Twitter. The entire nation stands shoulder to shoulder with Kerala and prays for the happiness as well as prosperity of its
citizens, he added.
Congress President Rahul Gandhi said this was a difficult time for the state’s people and wanted all to put aside differences and focus on the task of rebuilding Kerala. “In relief camps & homes across the state, people are grieving for their loved ones. On this Onam let us pledge to put aside our differences, stand united together and focus on the task of #RebuildingKerala,” he tweeted.
Reflecting communal amity, more than 240 youngsters from different religious background got together to clean up a temple at Aluva near Kochi, filled with mounds of dirt and mud left by River Periyar.
