NH remains blocked on 8th day
*Many remote Udhampur areas face starvation
Gopal Sharma
JAMMU, Sept 9: Over 70 structures including three Government schools and a mosque, mostly residential houses, were damaged due to sinking of land in Kotli Kalaban village of Mendhar Sub Division of district Poonch while Jammu-Srinagar National Highway continued to be closed for the 8th consecutive day today.
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With the closures of National Highway and many link roads, dozens of villages in remote areas of district Udhampur are facing starvation as the people do not have ration, kerosene oil, the LPG cylinders besides other essential items. While the District Administration claimed to have air-dropped some ration in Basantgarh, Moungari and Man Talai area in the district but it admitted that still many areas could not be covered.
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Reports from Mendhar said that over 2 sq kms of area of Kalaban village in Mendhar Sub Division started sinking slowly on Tuesday afternoon. Big cracks were developed on the main link road connecting the village besides land and fields. A panic gripped the entire village and the people contacted SDM Mendhar Imran Kataria and Tehsildar for the help. While about 20 families were asked to vacate their houses late last evening, about 50 families were evacuated to the safer places today.
Minister for Jal Shakti, Forests and Tribal Affairs, Javed Rana who hails from this village, reached there today and supervised the rescue operation. He also assured all help to the villagers. Deputy Commissioner Poonch, Ashok Sharma with staff also rushed there to monitor the rescue and relief work in the morning.
Dy Commissioner, Poonch when contacted said that about 70 structures/ houses including a mosque, a Govt Middle School and two Govt Primary Schools besides a graveyard have been damaged in the process of sinking of a large mass of land on a slopy hill. He said the land has gone down about 15-20 feet. SDRF, Police and Army have been involved in the rescue operation. The people have been provided dry ration and other immediate assistance, he added.
—Excelsior/Rahi Kapoor
The DC said while 10-12 families have been provided tents and they are residing in the safer location near the village, most of the others have gone to the houses of their relatives in the nearby area. They have taken out their belongings and cattle. Many houses have developed cracks while most of them are collapsing slowly.
The SDM Mendhar said that over 700 people have been affected by the sinking of land at Kalaban. The affected families have been temporarily accommodated at various locations. Immediate relief in accordance with the norms has been provided. He said the road has also been badly damaged and the movement of the vehicles to the area has been restricted.
Kataria further said they are monitoring the situation and efforts are on to provide better alternative accommodation to the displaced families. He said the land is still sinking in the village and the first priority is to shift the affected families to safer places.
Meanwhile, Chief Education Officer (CEO) Poonch, in view of the alarming situation at the village ordered closure of schools including PS Takia, GMS Kalaban, PS Mohalla Kashmiri, and PS Khaitan (Zone Mendhar).
An official spokesman said that Dy Commissioner Poonch, Ashok Kumar Sharma, today conducted visit to the flood-affected/ land- sinking area of Kalaban in Sub Division Mendhar, where recent heavy rains have caused severe damage to houses, roads, and other critical infrastructure due to landslides and road sinking.
Accompanied by SDM Imran Kataria, Executive Engineers PHE, FC, R&B and PDD, and other concerned officers, he assessed the ground situation and interacted with the affected residents to understand their grievances. Several families reported the complete or partial collapse of their homes and disconnection from essential services such as water and electricity. The Deputy Commissioner gave on-spot directions to the concerned departments to restore basic amenities without delay.
Meanwhile, Jammu-Srinagar National Highway remained closed for the movement of vehicular traffic for the 8th day as heavy rain today again delayed the road restoration work.
Project Director, National Highway, Ramban-Udhampur sector, Shubam Yadav said that men and machinery of the NHAI had almost finished its work at Thrad where about 250 mts long road stretch has been damaged with massive land slide and sinking of a large mountain mass near Udhampur. But in the afternoon heavy rain spoiled the hard work put in by the NHAI men and machinery.
“We had planned to restore traffic late this evening, but this attempt has been foiled by the bad weather. Now, we are hopeful of restoring traffic during morning hours if the weather remained favourable,” Yadav added.
SSP Traffic, National Highway, Adil Ganai said,” Unfortunately, rain again spoiled our best efforts to restore traffic. I and NHAI Project Director Yadav are closely monitoring restoration work at this site for the last few days. Staff is working even up to mid night. We were about to open the road for the traffic after taking a trial but again a heavy spell of rain spoiled our efforts. We will resume work again after the rain stops and will try our best to restore road by tomorrow, provided rain gave us some respite,” the SSP Traffic maintained.
The highway has remained closed due to multiple blockades since August 26 following torrential rains, flash floods, and landslides, but was reopened for traffic for a few hours on August 30. In total, the highway has been closed for 15 days.
“The highway is still closed for vehicular movement from Jakheni (Udhampur) towards Srinagar and vice versa due to road blockages between Jakheni and Balli Nallah. No vehicular movement shall be allowed from Nagrota (Jammu) towards Reasi, Chenani, Patnitop, Doda, Ramban, Banihal, Srinagar, and vice versa,” a Traffic Police advisory said.
It further advised that commuters heading to Katra and Udhampur towns should carry photo ID cards to prove their identity, ensuring smoother movement.
The men and machinery of the NHAI are working on war-footing to restore the badly damaged stretch of the highway due to a massive landslide at Thard and the washing away of a part at Balli Nallah area, they said.
The pilgrimage to the Mata Vaishno Devi shrine atop Trikuta Hills also remained suspended for the 15th consecutive day.
The Srinagar-Sonamarg-Gumri Highway is also closed due to a landslide near Rusool Mode in the Zojila belt, officials said, adding that restoration work is going on.
“People are advised not to undertake the journey on the highway until the road is fully restored,” they said.
Traffic on the inter-regional Mughal Road, connecting Jammu region’s Poonch district with Kashmir’s Shopian district, is moving smoothly, while the Batote-Doda-Kishtwar road has also been cleared.
The closure of highways and other inter-regional roads to Kashmir has resulted in over 5,000 vehicles getting stranded at various places in Kathua, Samba, Jammu, Udhampur, Ramban, the Kashmir valley, and Punjab, they said.
Meanwhile, reports said more than a dozen Panchayats of Latti- Marothi and Dudu including Panchount, Chopper, Sira, Jakhed, half a dozen Panchayats of Pattangarh in Chenani, over half a dozen villages and scores of Morhas of Basantgarh/Shivgalli/Gandh Top besides a dozen villages of Landhar and Galiot in Pancheri and some hamlets of Pancheri are facing starvation. Today, at Lalli village of Moungri the people kept waiting for the ration air-dropping but the Chopper did not arrive. The dejected people left for their homes.
Many villages of Latti and Dudu are without power supply, ration, kerosene oil/candles/ LPG as the road has remained closed for the last about 14 days with one day’s restoration in between. These villagers have appealed to the LG’s administration to airdrop ration in these areas till the NH and link roads are restored.
Divisional Commissioner, Jammu Ramesh Kumar, however, claimed that ration is being air-dropped to many hilly areas with the help of AIF choppers. He claimed that due to bad weather they are facing problem in some areas.
Addl Dy Commissioner, Udhampur, P S Chib when contacted said that in Latti and Dudu areas they could not reach till today. He said the IAF choppers are dropping ration in Basantgarh, Lalli village in Moungri and today ration was airdropped at Man Talai in Chenani. He said IAF choppers are also airdropping ration in parts of Ramban and Doda and therefore, we send them request on daily basis. Some times due to bad weather, the air-dropping fails, Chib added.
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