ANANTNAG, Sept 21:
With winter approaching, residents of several villages of south Kashmir, which bore the brunt of flooding, are now searching the debris of their houses to find something useful.
Houses collapsed and waters took away everything from residents of Hassanpora Tawaila village of Anantnag district in Jammu and Kashmir when the floods swamp the village on September 5.
“When the floods came, it was like the river flowing in our village, in our houses and it took away everything we had,” Kounsar Ahmad Reshi said.
He said the water remained in the village for four days, submerging most of the structures and destroying many.
“We saw our houses crumbling. I had a three-storey house and I saw it, from a distance going down,” Reshi, who used to run an electric-goods shop in the ground floor of the house, said.
Reshi, who lived with his two uncles with the total strength of 32 family members, was now searching the debris along with them to find anything that could be useful as the winters were approaching.
“Some of the goods from the shop were washed away and the rest were buried under the debris. Our clothes, utensils, things and food grains were all destroyed. The winters are approaching and we cannot think of anything,” he said.
There are many people in the village who, like Reshi, now live with their relatives or neighbours after their houses were destroyed by the floods, but there are many more whose houses are intact but they fear to live in those.
“My house is still there but it developed cracks and we fear it may crumble. We manage it during the day, but when the night falls, we go out looking for the shelter,” Abdul Aziz Khan, a farmer, said.
Khan said they had not heard from the Government and the only relief they got was from the people of other areas.
“The Deputy Commissioner came here but only to check the bund nearby. Our MLA has not bothered to check with us. We have been left to fend for ourselves,” he said.
Some residents alleged they were provided ration, some days ago, but they had to pay for the same.
“We were given the ration but not free as announced by the Government. Those who could produce ration cards were given 25 kg and those who could not, were provided only 15 kg and the officials took Rs 270 from us when the Government rate is Rs 250 only,” Yaqoob Ahmad said.
Ahmad said the people in the village did not have safe drinking water and had not seen electricity since the rains started. (PTI)
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