Prakash Budha of Tikapur, Kailali, was among several Nepalis working as labourers in Dharali of Uttarkashi district, Uttarakhand, India, when flash floods swept away the settlement three weeks ago.

Budha, his brother Ramesh, and seven others were employed at a hotel under construction in the Dharali Bazar. Some of their wages were pending when the floods, triggered by heavy rainfall in the Kheer Ganga river, destroyed the area.

“The money I had kept in the room was washed away, and the owner refused to pay the pending amount,” Budha said. “Around 30,000 to 35,000 Indian rupees in wages were due. Before returning home, the owner gave me only 5,000 rupees.”

Budha lost his brother Ramesh and sister-in-law Priya in the disaster. With no chance of recovering their bodies, he performed their funeral rites in Haridwar on Friday by making effigies out of kush (holy) grass. “We finished the rituals in two days and are now returning home,” he said.

The area, now buried under 30 to 40 feet of gravel, has left little hope for recovery. Families of the missing have scattered between Dharali, Haridwar, and their home villages, conducting symbolic funeral rites. According to Uttarakhand’s State Emergency Operation Centre, 68 people, including 21 Nepalis, remain missing.

The Uttarakhand government has announced relief of 500,000 Indian rupees each for the families of missing Indian citizens. Nepali workers, however, have neither received pending wages nor compensation.

“While Indian families are promised relief, we have not even been paid our labour wages,” Budha said. “We are struggling to return home without money.”

Five people from Taligaun of ward 2 in Kushe Rural Municipality, Jajarkot, are also missing. Their relatives, too, have returned home to perform rituals.

“We came back to perform the funeral rites at home,” said Ganesh, brother of missing worker Karna Bahadur Singh. They entered Nepal on Friday through the Rupaidiha border point.

With search operations slowing in Dharali, families have begun leaving the area. Survivors criticised the Nepali Embassy in Delhi for failing to take the initiative.

“We are stranded without money, and the embassy has not contacted anyone,” Budha said. “So many people are missing, but no effort has been made to search for them.”

Many Nepalis in Dharali had been working in apple orchards, vegetable farms, and construction projects. Most, like Budha, have lost their families and earnings, with some employers themselves missing in the flood.