Buried in the Ground: The Irshalgadwadi Tragedy

From the desk of Vitasta Raina

Dated: February 2025

Time: Irrelevant

Notes: My field studies for my thesis on rural housing schemes took me to Chowk village in peri-urban MMR. I first conducted field surveys in 2022. Among the villages and wadis included in my study area was Chowk Irshalgad Thakurwadi. Then an unknown fairly remote hamlet, and now, post the tragic events of 2023, another statistic in the report on Landslides in Maharashtra.

This article is a reflection of my work on Irshalgadwadi that unfolded between 2022 and 2023, covering the events of the landslide and the resettlement that followed. It’s not an easy read, but it’s something I wanted to document and share. I have removed names and other identifiable details from this article to ensure privacy. This article is based on personal observations, survivor accounts, and publicly available information.

2022: Arriving at Chowk Irshalgad Thakurwadi

During my field stay in the summer of 2022 at Chowk, I had been looking forward to visiting Irshalgad Thakurwadi. This little hamlet with a population of about 200 people (roughly 36 different households) did not have electricity till May 2022 when it was electrified via a solar microgrid by Tata Capital. The hamlet was located at the top of Tooth Mountain (I have dubbed Irshalgad Fort 'Tooth Mountain' because of Tooth Mountain Farms located at the base of the hill near Hatnoli). It was fascinating to see a single light shining from the top of the otherwise dark hill at night, and I had been told by the folks at Chowk about the difficulty of the trek.

 

Map of Study Area indicating Location of Irshalgad Thakurwadi in 2022

Reaching Irshalgadwadi was not an easy task. One needed to walk uphill and climb sheer rock faces to reach this tribal hamlet. It was not accessible by even a bicycle, and one needed to climb up and down a literal mountain for any daily necessity. The hamlet was a small cluster of about 40 odd houses, some under construction under PMAY and Shabari Awas Yojana, that I had come to inspect. The village did not have piped water supply unlike the other adivasi wadis in Chowk, and got its water from a well, and they finally got electricity only a few weeks before I visited.

Trek uphill to Tooth Mountain

Irshalgad Thakurwadi was a residential cluster comprised entirely of Adivasi Thakur community (STs). The hamlet did not have a market or convenience store. There was one school building here where the microgrid was kept. The school was not operational due to a lack of teachers. I asked the villagers how they educate their children, and they informed me that their children go to an Ashram school hostel to study and live.

While I was visiting, the people of the hamlet were busy working on digging drainage trenches alongside the closely clustered houses to direct water outflow from bathrooms towards a central pit. They had recently been visited by the panchayat office since elections were looming ahead. While I was there, I got a call from the panchayat office asking me to take photos of the Sintax tank erected near the well and of the new drainage work for them, since getting to and fro from the village entailed an almost hour-long arduous trek up the mountain that no one was willing to undertake.

Map of Chowk Irshalgad Thakurwadi in 2022 depicting the location of the School, Brick-Kilns, and the Water Well

While the gram panchayat took cognizance of the village, no one from the panchayat office was keen on physically visiting the hamlet very often due to its difficult access. According to the people I spoke with at the hamlet, the panchayat officials only visited them during election time.

Visually, the hamlet was a cluster of houses made of brick and mud mortar with Mangalore tiled roofing. Construction of brick and cement houses here was a challenge since all the building material needed to be transported manually uphill. Thus, the hamlet had taken to making their own bricks locally on the hill itself. The construction quality of the houses in Irshalgadwadi was very good in comparison to the construction work at Namrachiwadi and Vaarosawadi located a the base of the hill, and the local residents seemed to be very aware of construction work. There were few houses here self-constructed under Indira Awas Yojana that were in very good condition unlike their counterparts in derelict condition in the other wadis of Chowk. The hamlet was also very clean with no garbage strewn about in sharp contrast to the garbage situation in the lower terrain village areas of Chowk.

New Homes under Shabari Awas Yojana at Irshalgadwadi in 2022

I had jaggery tea at the house of the headman before they took me across the hamlet to survey all the houses built over time. While talking to the residents, they told me they had a lot of issues with water-supply as their well almost ran dry in the summer months. I asked them why they continued to stay here since it would be very difficult to construct an access road up to the hamlet, which would vastly improve their quality of life. and they informed me that this cluster of houses was at least 150-200 years old and that they were attached to this land and the forest nearby. One resident informed me that he keeps his motorbike at the base of the hill, and travels up till there on foot. The residents were largely not engaged in farming except for one resident who grew rice and vegetables, and most were working in Chowk and Panvel in begari work. Few were engaged in animal husbandry, and some catered to the seasonal tourists to Irshalgad Fort.

It was a hard trek up, and this route was frequented by trekkers from Bombay and Pune. Due to this, one resident had set up a permanent tea shop in the hamlet. They informed me that there were tourist agencies that operated here during tourist season that set up tents for trekkers who climb up to the hamlet and then go up to the Fort. The fort when I visited had been closed to tourists because of Covid restrictions.

Bring Water from the Well. Irshalgadwadi 2022

This hamlet was as far removed from Chowk in terms of physical development as Chowk can be considered from Fortune City, which Hiranandani developers have dubbed “The Next Powai” in anticipation of the development of 'Mumbai 3.0'. Irshalgad Thakurwadi, along with its surrounding forests were included in the Matheran Eco-sensitive Zone according to the DP report published by MMRDA. However, it was unclear how this would fit within the MSRDC plan of developing 27 villages along the Expressway, as this area was also included within their DP map.

There were a few houses that were being built under PMAY and Sabari Awas Yojana in the hamlet. For the construction of these houses in the absence of any road infrastructure, it was not possible to get bricks. While in other places in the Chowk, the bricks are got from kilns in Tupgaon and Hatnoli at 8 Rs/piece, the bricks for construction in Irshagadwadi were manufactured locally. These bricks were of a superior quality and were made in small bhattis on erstwhile fields where farming was carried out but has now been discontinued. These fields were located in forest land, as was the entire wadi. Regarding the making of their own bricks locally, a professor of mine observed that these tribals may have been employed as bonded labourers in brick kilns and picked up these skills over time. However, I cannot confirm this speculation.

Brick bhattis at Irshalgadwadi, 2022

Cement for the houses was carried manually up the hill. The residents explained how this increased the cost of construction in Irshalgadwadi, since the cost of labour was quite high. While the cement can be bought in Chowk market for Rs 400 to 500, the cost of carrying the cement up to the wadi was about Rs 300 per load. For this reason, they preferred to construct houses using mud mortar.

They also told me that while the IAY houses built in 2013-2014 were contractor-driven in other parts of Chowk panchayat, in Irshalgadwadi they were self-constructed since no contractor was willing to climb up to the village. Regarding the construction quality I observed, the residents mentioned that they go and work as labourers with masons in the city and even up to Navi Mumbai, and picked up construction skills.

The PMAY house undergoing construction in Irshalgad also had wooden rafters for securing the AC sheet roofing instead of steel pipes as seen in other parts of Chowk. The woodwork was also done masterfully. For the windows, they had installed iron grills instead of a wooden framed window. All the materials required for construction were brought up manually. I asked the villagers about their daily journey downhill to Chowk during the monsoons, and they said that because the grass grows very tall and hides the walking trail, they use herbicide on the path to keep it clear.

I left the hamlet confident that I would visit it next year, when the underconstruction houses were completed.

Irshalgad Thakurwadi and Tooth Mountain in 2022

2023: Landslide Event and its Aftermath

I started my field work around May in 2023 post the panchayat elections. During this period, there was a lot of activity in the panchayat office and they were not very forthcoming or welcoming like they had been during my survey in 2022. At this time, I was focusing on Hatnoli Adivasi pada after becoming interested in its formation based on the work done by Buckles and Khedkar. During this time, Irshalgadwadi was not my focus. I had thought of waiting out the monsoons before attempting the trek up Tooth Mountain. However, this would never come to pass. In July 2023 Irshalgad Thakurwadi had been wiped out of existence.

On 19th July 2023, at around 11.00 pm, as per respondents, rocks and mud dislodged from the mountain top amid heavy rain and buried a few houses. Timeline of the incident as per the Tehsil report that I obtained was between 10.30 pm and 11 pm. According to respondents on site, at around 11.20 pm, some villagers from Irshalgadwadi contacted the panchayat office via mobile phone. Meanwhile mud continued to slide down from a fissure created by the falling rocks due to heavy rainfall. Team from the tehsil office including doctors and local villagers reached the incident spot around 12.40 am and started search and rescue operations. Once there, and upon realizing the extent of the disaster, volunteers from National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and Thane Disaster Response Force (TDRF) were called in.

As per news reports, NDRF team was alerted at 1.45 am. As per respondents, the NDRF team of 100 personnel and TDRF team of 25 personnel reached the incident spot around 3 am. Team from NGO Sahaj Seva Foundation from Khopoli also reached the incident spot. At 5.30 am search and rescue operations started under the NDRF leadership. Injured persons were taken to Rural Hospital Chowk and MGM Hospital Panvel. Rescue operations had to be done manually and on foot since helicopters could not be dispatched because of the heavy rain and fog.

In the morning of 20th July 2023, Chief Minister of Maharashtra State Eknath Shinde, MLA Girish Mahajan, MLA Mahesh Baldi, MLA Dadaji Bhuse, and MLA Uday Samant (Guardian Minister of Raigad district) visited the incident spot. At this time, the entire road section and Chowk-Irhsalgad road had been closed off. The contingent climbed up to Irshalgad Thakurwadi, and inspected the incident site and met with the survivors. During this visit, the CM announced an amount of INR 5 Lakh to all families of Thakurwadi as per the survivors I spoke with.

Tehsildar office at Khalapur and the panchayat office were deputed to work on temporary shelters for the victims and at this time no one other than rescue personnel were allowed to visit the site. The incident site would remain inaccessible for the near future.

I reached Chowk on Friday evening (21st July 2023). At this time, the police did not allow me to enter. The families from Thakurwadi had been shifted to a temple premises in Nadhal village (on route to Bamboo dam) and the police had barricaded the road. My field-guide from my survey in 2022 was part of the rescue operations. He told me that survivors were crying while they were removing bodies from the ground. He said there were only hands and legs visible from under the debris and till then about 16 bodies had been recovered. He said everybody was too stunned at the extent and suddenness of the disaster which no one expected to happen. He said that the rescue operation was difficult because 29/30 foot of mud had buried everything.

On Saturday morning, I visited the panchayat office for permissions to visit the survivors but could not speak to anyone. I visited the site where the temporary containers were being set up. This was the abandoned petrol pump site where the poultry farm had been set up. The workers were metaling the ground around the containers and at that time there were no police personnel there. I tried again to visit the families showing the police my IIT student ID, but they informed me that a minister was visiting them currently and they could not let me pass. They said that only people directly involved with the rescue operations were allowed inside. They even turned away NGOs carrying relief materials. Meanwhile, at the panchayat office I was again told that it was not a good time and that I should come back in 15 days when things have settled.

Container Shelters being set up at Diamond Petrol Pump site in July 2023

Overall morale with everyone I spoke to was low. My field-guide informed me that people were getting medical treatment, and that survivors were not in a state to talk. They was a lot of shouting at the incident site, and bodies had been laid out since they were identifying the victims and several people were missing. One of my other respondents sent me some very graphic videos from the rescue operations depicting NDRF personnel removing bodies of children from under the debris.

By Friday (21st July 2023), various media outlets had picked up the news. I got more information from reading the news than I did on ground. What I learnt on ground was where the the CM and MLAs visiting Chowk had lunch and which hotel they briefly stayed at. As for the victims and their families, I had no access to them. I decided to approach the tehsil office for permissions, however, they were suspicious, questioned if I was affiliated with the press or an NGO, did not know what IIT Bombay was, and then told me to come back later with a permission letter. Meanwhile, on Sunday (23rd July 2023), the rescue operations were called off.

Since I couldn’t meet with the survivors and the police had blocked off the road to Irshalgwadi and Namrachiwadi, I tried to meet with the sarpanch, but due to the presence of senior political leaders and media personal, I could not get an audience with anyone at the panchayat office. During this time Section 144 was imposed in Irshalgadwadi and Nanivali and base camp of rescue operations was set up near Namrachiwadi.

One day after the incident, the newly elected sarpanch had given a statement to the local news media (Lokmat News Network 2023) stating that the gram panchayat had already appealed to the hamlet to migrate closer to Chowk and asked them to propose a new place to resettle, adding that despite the appeal, the villagers did not want to resettle as the location at Irshalgadwadi was their traditional home. This statement was given after the CM had already given direction for selecting a site for resettlement of the hamlet within Chowk gairan land. The survivors however, stated that they had already attempted building houses in another location closer to Nanivali, however since the huts were being built within forest land, they had been demolished forest department (Maharashtra Times 2023)

One week post the incident, the survivors were relocated to the temporary container housing and movement to the petrol pump (site of the container housing) was restricted. The gates were manned by police and the operation and relief work was handed over to the tehsil office.

Entrance Gate of Temporary Housing 2023

For two months post the incident, I tried to get permissions to meet with the survivors. The panchayat office gave me some information about the rescue operations, but said I needed tehsildar permission to meet with the survivors. During this time, elections were happening in other gram panchayats, and the tehsil office told me to wait till they are free from the election duties. I continued my interviews at Hatnoli during this time, but observed the developments at Irhsalgadwadi. Survivors barely moved out of the temporary accommodation, and relief materials was brought in via workers from the Tehsil office.

During Ganpati festivities in September 2023, CM Eknath Shinde arranged to meet the victims one more time. As per respondents, the survivors were taken by a bus to the Lalbaugcha Raja Ganesh Mandal where they were given INR 50,000/family, food and clothes and reassured about resettlement. At this time as well, the gates of the container housing remained closed and they did not allow anyone to visit them without permission. However, this time after repeated attempts, I was able to access the Tehsildar directly, and she gave me permission to meet with the survivors and I was also able to obtain the official statistics from the Tehsil office.

However, some people at the panchayat office they did not want me to visit the families. They could not understand why I needed to visit anyone since according to them, it had nothing to do with “gharkuls”. This sentiment was shared by another panchayat office worker who asked me why I needed to visit them. He said he didn’t want me to talk to them because I am primarily studying “gharkuls” and he felt that if I go there, the survivors might “demand extra gharkuls”. He said “CM is giving them a house, but if you go there he might say, give a house for my son as well. During Ganpati CM gave them food and clothes. NGOs are also working. Why do you want to meet them?”

Understandably under heavy media scrutiny given the severity of the tragedy, nobody at the panchayat office wanted to speak with me and were unhelpful. I’m assuming that since they did not know where my allegiance lies, or the content of my “PhD report” they were not forthcoming with any information.

According to official figures received from the Tehsildar Office, there were a total of 228 people present in Irhsalgadwadi at the night of incident. Of these, while 219 persons were native residents, 9 were visiting from outside. Officially, there are 27 persons who are confirmed dead, and 57 persons who are missing. That is of the 84 people who died in the tragedy, they have only recovered the bodies of 27 people before the search was called off. As per a respondent, above on the hill, it is like a graveyard and the earth smells of death. Because of the prohibitory orders issued by the district collector, I was unable to personally visit the site. As per respondents, recovered bodies were given burials in Irshalgadwadi itself.

Post disaster relief and rehabilitation work is taken up directly under the Tehsildar Office, Khalapur. At the temporary container shelter, life carried on.

Temporary Container Housing for Families of Irshalgad Thakurwadi in 2023

At the shelter, there was a small aanganwadi set up for the children, who the respondents said didn’t understand the magnitude of the tragedy since they were asleep when it happened. When I finally got to visit the shelter, there were only a few men who were at home, while mostly women doing daily chores. Communal toilets and bathrooms had been set up on the far side behind the container housing. Each container was enumerated and the name of the resident was painted outside. Inside, there is a chart listing the residents name, age and medical information.

The men I spoke to were drunk even in the morning. This I have discovered via Buckles and Khedkar is an issue plaguing the tribal community. When I tried to understand the events, an older man who was quite anguished spoke to me about the lack of jobs. He said he ready to do any kind of job, anywhere, but he doesn’t have anything so he is sitting here. When I asked the men about the timeline when the Forest Department destroyed their houses, they were uncertain. They said it had happened, but it was either 2015 or 2019. They could not tell me clearly. They complained about the container housing saying it gets very hot and miserable even with the fans.

A community kitchen was also set up there, and a 24 hour clinic, and each container house had been provided with gas cylinder, utensils, water drums, fans, clothes and other essential items. According to the men, they had gotten everything from donor agencies and village folk and nothing from the govt. They said that “families who lost people got 7 lakhs, and we were supposed to get 5 lakhs, but we never got anything, no assistance from the government for us at all. What are we supposed to do? Everything is buried under 25 feet of mud and rock, how will they find anything? We only came with the clothes on our back, everything is gone. All documents, everything. Now we don’t have jobs, they said they will build a house, but we don’t get anything. At lalbagh they gave INR 50,000. That’s all that we got. 84 people dead only 140 remain, it hurts, dead people got money, but what about the living?” I asked them about the lost documents, and one man showed me the new yellow ration card he got. As per the report from the Tehsil office, at that time they had issued 43 Antyodaya ration cards, and documentation for 139 Aadhar cards is in process. Further 126 bank passbooks had been processed. However, there is no indication of when Caste Certificates would be processed.

I asked the men if they were angry or sad at the incident, and they said they were both, a little angrier at the lack of monetary support from the government. There were talks about skill training and tie ups with companies for providing jobs, but so far there is no indication of the same. “They said we will get 5 lakhs and house, now they say what will we get? There is nothing left to say.”

The women I spoke to seemed more depressed than angry. While they were reluctant to talk, they said tehsil office had come and counselled them about the tragedy. They said their whole life had been changed overnight. “Earlier we lived in a forest, now we are living in container next to road. We are not used to this. I used to wake up at 5 am, make food. Here the container is small, my house was big. I don’t wake up that early now, nothing much to do. Earlier we used to celebrate all festivals together, some people went back to see our village, but it is a ghost village now.”

Temporary Housing in September 2023

Post my last visit in October 2023, I spoke with the panchayat office to get an update on the resettlement and I was informed that Shrikant Shinde (son of Maharashtra CM and Lok sabha MP) had visited the survivors during Diwali. He assured the survivors that their new houses will be ready by Gudi Padwa (April 2024).

2024: Another Resettlement Colony in Chowk

In the days immediately following the disaster, while I could not meet with the survivors, I was in touch with my field-guide who works at the panchayat office and who was part of the rescue operations. During that time, there was an urgency in his approach to the disaster, in that they were still searching for survivors, and he was very matter-of-factly about the disaster, giving me brief updates about the status of missing persons. About a week later, it turned to a sort of dejection, and he told me that now they are busy organizing support and mobilizing resources.

For the survivors, when I did get to meet them, it was already 2 months post the disaster. For some of the men, there was more anger towards the whole situation. For the women I spoke to, there was a feeling of insecurity about the future.

At the time of the meeting with the victims, the CM tasked CIDCO to start work on resettlement of the hamlet. As per Tehsildar’s report, 6 acres permanent resettlement location for Irshalgadwadi had been selected behind Nanivali thakurwadi on gairan land of Chowk. Each house was allotted 3 gunta land. As per respondents, each house is about 600 to 700 sqft in area, and has 1 bedroom, hall, toilet with separate washing area, and a kitchen area. Houses have a sit-out verandah. CIDCO had appointed HSA for the rehabilitation work, and the houses were designed using precast technology.

Irshalgad Resettlement Colony behind Nanivali

During Diwali 2024, the houses were allotted to the survivors of Irshalgad. Several respondents praised the CM for delivering homes within 1 year time, applauding his fast action in comparison to the delays in house delivery seen in the case of other landslide incidents in Maharashtra. Others when praising the quality of the work said it doesn't seem that "adivasis live here". There are 47 houses constructed in the colony along with a school and a samaj hall.

Chowk panchayat land has already got resettlement colonies for Nanivali village and its wadis, and Varosawadi and Namrachiwadi tribal hamlets that were resettled here because of the construction of Morbe dam. Now, it has become home to another resettlement colony for Irshalgadwadi.

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This is a personal account, with publically available information. I have linked references. All photos are my own.