Gopal Sharma
JAMMU, Aug 25: At least six persons were killed and nine others injured in two incidents of houses collapse near Lakhanpur in Kathua and Barmeen area of Udhampur while at least 16 houses reportedly suffered extensive damage due to heavy rain and landslides in Budhal (Rajouri) and Kathua districts while flood in several rivers including Ujh, Basantar, Tawi besides other nallahs created havoc and disrupted movement of traffic in many areas today.
Reports from Udhampur said that a middle aged woman and her two minor sons were killed while five other members of the family injured when their house collapsed at Lower Barmeen in Ghordi block of district Udhampur last mid night.
It was raining heavily in the entire area when the incident took place at around 1.30 am.
Eldest member of the family Atma Singh (50) was seriously injured in this incident and his elder son Rajinder and his three daughters, Sharma (17), Ashu (15) and Shivali (4) survived with injuries. Rajinder managed to save some of the family members including his father. He raised alarm and neighbours rushed to their house. The villagers immediately started rescue operation and removed debris. 40 year old Rita, wife of Atma Singh and 11-year old Sahil Singh and 7-year old Sanjay Singh were buried alive and their bodies were extricated with tough efforts from beneath the debris.
The injured Atma Singh, Sharda, Ashu and Shivali were removed to Udhampur hospital while Rajinder was provided treatment at local hospital at Barmeen. Tehsildar Ramnagar Mr Kesar and concerned police party reached the spot and the DC Udhampur also paid visit of the site in the afternoon and provided Rs 3000 assistance out of Red Cross Fund to the family. The villagers collected money and performed the last rites of the dead bodies. The DC assured to provide Rs 1 lakh each, as ex-gratia relief in favour of family for the deceased persons. Assistance under IAY was also assured.
A report from Kathua said that two villagers were killed in an incident of house collapse at Burni village and one at Tridwan, under Lakhanpur police jurisdiction early today. At least four persons were also injured in the incident.
The deceased have been identified as Sahil Singh (6), son of Punjab Singh of Tridwan, Rafiqa Begum (44), wife of Khalil Hussain and 7-year-old Amina, daughter of Abdul Rabani residents of Burni.
Four injured persons identified as Qasim Jan (17), daughter of Masood, Afiza (65), Zubed (7) and Kamla Devi, wife of Durga Dass have been admitted to Kathua hospital. The incident took place after land slide at the village. At least five houses were affected with the landslides.
SHO Lakhanpur moved to the village after coming to know about the incident. The villagers had already removed the bodies of the deceased from the debris. The injured had also been shifted.
DC Kathua, Zahida Khan, SSP and DySP Dar Mr Rohit visited the village and took stock of the situation. They directed the villagers to stay away from the sliding zone. Some relief was also provided to the affected families out of Red Cross Fund. The DC asked Tehsildar to process the cases of the deceased for providing ex-gratia/ relief to the affected families.
Meanwhile, the traffic on Jammu-Pathankote National Highway remained affected near Lakhanpur for about two hours due to flash flood in a nallah in the morning while Lakhanpour-Basohli road was also closed due to landslide and flood in the nallah in Basantpur area. The traffic on this road remained disrupted for over six hours. Traffic was also disrupted on many link roads and border roads of Kathua due to land slides and flood in nallah. Due to heavy flood in Ujh, Basnatar , Tawi, Bein and Tarnah the crop of the farmers was damaged. Massive land erosion has also been reported from several areas.
A report from Rajouri said that ten houses collapsed in Budhal (Kotranka) area in last two days. Though no loss of human life was reported yet property of the people has been damaged. The villagers whose houses were extensively damaged in rains included Karnail Singh resident of Bai Namla, Gulzar Hussain of Sekri Morha, Jeet Raj of Upper Jamola, Balbir Singh of Sadda Bagnot, Subash Chander, Balwant Singh, Rajiv Kumar, son of Munshi Ram, Hakam Din, son of Mian Khan and Mohd Azam, son of Mohd Hussain of Sadda.
Sarpanch Dev Raj of Sadda village has said that information regarding house collapse has been passed on to the Tehsildar Kotranka and administration should come out for help and provide compensation to the affected villagers. He said the Maize crop has also suffered heavy damage in the area.
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