In Jammu & Kashmir there is no respite from disasters. Recently 21 persons — including 14 soldiers — died in avalanches. Each year scores of people are lost and many families get displaced. Bad weather threatens millions in these unprotected mountainscapes.

While all major roads in the State are prone to landslides, rockfalls and avalanches due to the rampant felling of trees, experts say there is an urgent need for soil conservation and rehabilitation measures to avert these human tragedies.

As many as 134 families that were displaced by a massive landslide in Saddal village of Udhampur district in September 2014 remain homeless. While 40 people, including children, were crushed in the landslide, the survivors live in deplorable camps, awaiting official help.

The district administration says it has been pushing ahead with rehabilitation plans, but there isn’t much on the ground. The 50 displaced families living in a big tenement at Sui Chakhar, on the outskirts of Udhampur town, are still hoping for a small piece of land to farm and a few cattle for sustenance.

Missing home

“We’re jobless here and have nowhere to go. Without money we can’t start life all over again,” says Chaino Devi, 38. The compensation provided by the government is not enough to rebuild their lives.

Take, for instance, Kunj Lal, 55. He had a water-powered flour mill, a grocery shop and a traditional blanket-weaving unit besides a home, farm and livestock. “I lost everything. The government gave me ₹71,000 as compensation after deducting my outstanding farm loan,” he says. “With this paltry assistance, can a person who has lost everything start a new life?”

The villagers also rue the lack of basic amenities at the camp. All that they are getting from the government is subsidised food-ration and nothing else... not even kerosene, they say.

Loss and trauma

Loss of livelihood and homes, coupled with poverty and official apathy, has led to deteriorating mental health among members of the community.

Sharda Devi, 24, lost her husband, Todu Ram, some months ago. Todu reportedly wasn’t keeping well after their displacement and suffered “frequent attacks of insanity”. He is said to have died without medical treatment. “Sharda got remarried recently. Their children (aged two and four) are living with the grandparents now,” a villager said.

The trauma is also pushing some villagers to seek solace from local faith healers, as they believe that the spirits of dead family members are haunting them.

Even though Panjabu Ram, 70, was brought to the Psychiatric Diseases Hospital in Jammu, he died earlier this month. Villagers said mental illness led to swelling in his entire body and he did not have the money for treatment.

They also complained that Dr Jitendra Singh, Union Minister of State in PMO and local MP from Udhampur-Kathua, had visited them only once — and that too for a few minutes.

The minister reportedly adopted the village under the Saansad Adarsh Gram Yojana immediately after the tragedy struck.

Not safe to return

Meanwhile, Prem Chand, 50, and his family — disgruntled over the long wait for government help — went back to their village along with a few other families. But while Prem’s family stayed back in the village, the others soon returned to the camp. “Many of us returned disappointed. The land couldn’t be made cultivable again. The village has turned upside down,” says Mithu Ram, 40. “Hopefully, the government will redress our issues some day.”

“Apprehending another disaster in future, experts have advised us against settling villagers in the area devastated by the landslide,” says District Development Commissioner Udhampur, Neeraj Kumar, adding, “We’ve identified a few sites and are working on a plan to rehabilitate them.”

The writer is an independent journalist based in Jammu

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