Nepal floods: Families of missing Kailash Yatris seek answers from Sadhguru’s Isha Foundation

Guwahati: The Isha Foundation is facing criticism from families of tour guides who were among those caught in the August 26 floods on Nepal’s Bhotekoshi River.

The families said the guides had spent more than a decade helping organise and support the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra, The Himalayan Times reported.

The Dudhkoshi–Trishuli corridors were hit by floods that left at least 92 people associated with Sadhguru’s Isha Foundation missing.

Families of the Nepali victims alleged that the foundation counted only 80 clients among those missing from the tour and did not include the 12 Nepali guides travelling with the Kailash Yatra.

Gumbu Sherpa’s death has left his wife, Ngima Chhemji Sherpa, grieving in Sotang village of Solukhumbu District. The mother of two said she was particularly distressed because the foundation had not treated Gumbu as one of the people involved in the Kailash tour.

For more than nine years, Gumbu had been part of Sadhguru’s Kailash team. Ngima Chhemji said he accompanied the group every year as its main guide and helped make the Kailash Yatra successful. He was also the only person earning for his household.

His children, nine-year-old Yangji and three-year-old Tashi, keep asking about their father, Ngima Chhemji said. She said she was struggling to answer their questions and was unsure how she would raise them without him.

Gumbu’s brother Pasang said the Isha Foundation earned millions of rupees each year from the Kailash tour with the assistance of Nepali guides like Gumbu. He questioned the organisation’s response, asking where its concern for human survival and well-being was in the case of his family.

Suresh Shrestha’s family has also accused the foundation of ignoring its Nepali support staff. Suresh was swept away by floods near Timure on August 26 and remains missing, while his wife Padam Kumari said the family had received no words of sympathy from the Isha Foundation. She is the mother of their 14-month-old daughter.

A permanent resident of Solududhkunda Municipality, Suresh had been assigned to work as a tour guide for the Isha team. His brother Bhupal said the family was shocked that the foundation had overlooked Suresh’s contribution. He demanded sufficient compensation for the victims’ families on humanitarian grounds.

Ratna Bahadur Rokaya was also swept away in the Bhotekoshi floods, and his family has already begun his final rituals, Lila Basnet said. Ratna was from Bheri Municipality in Jajarkot and had a five-year-old daughter. He had accompanied Sadhguru on several earlier trips to Kailash Mansarovar.

According to Lila, the Isha Foundation had not contacted Ratna’s family to offer condolences. She questioned why the organisation was referring to 80 missing people, most of whom were NRIs, without mentioning Ratna or other Nepali guides and support staff.

Mina Simkhada, whose husband Kapil Simkhada also disappeared in the floods, has likewise criticised the foundation’s response. The victims’ families said they wanted assistance from the organisation during the crisis because their husbands had been serving the Isha Foundation when they lost their lives.

Eight Nepali nationals missing from Sadhguru’s Kailash Yatra have been identified as Lang Ngima Sherpa, Sachim Adhikari, Kale Gurung, Anil Rana Magar, Bhanu Prasad Devkota, Dilli Bahadur Pantha, Sugam Silwal and Tek Bahadur Adhikari. They were swept away in areas along the Nepal–Tibet border while travelling to Kailash Mansarovar.

The Trekkers Society, which locally manages the Isha Foundation’s Kailash Yatra, said all 92 people missing in the floods were part of Sadhguru’s Kailash Yatra. Jitendra Basnet, managing director of the society, questioned the foundation’s reluctance to acknowledge the 12 Nepali guides during the crisis.

Basnet said the Trekkers Society was coordinating with the foundation to address the grievances of the Nepali guides.

The Isha Foundation disputed the figure, saying 80 people connected with its tour had gone missing in the floods. Its representative said the group consisted of 77 participants and three volunteers.

The foundation representative said discussions were also underway with the local agency regarding the Nepali support staff.

The foundation was initially communicating with families of the 80 people who reported directly to it, including yatris and volunteers, while the support staff had been engaged by the local agent, the representative said.