Team of Geological Survey experts arrives
Gopal Sharma
JAMMU, Apr 28: Over 500 victims of land sinking incident at Parnote village in Ramban district, forced to leave their unsafe and damaged houses have demanded adequate compensation and relief and lands at safer places for their permanent rehabilitation.
More than 60 houses said to have been partially or fully damaged or developed cracks at this village, located hardly 5 kms ahead of Ramban district headquarters on Ramban-Sangaldan-Gool road. A long stretch of Gool road has also been damaged and it is still sinking. Over 3 kms area has been damaged so far since Thursday evening due to sinking of land. It has left behind a trail of destruction, severely damaging four electricity towers, a receiving station and a section of the road connecting the Gool sub-division with the Ramban headquarters.
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The land subsidence is still continuing amid incessant rains, also threatening over two dozen remaining houses, while hundreds of acres of agricultural land also suffered the brunt of the natural calamity, the cause of which is being investigated by the experts of Geological Survey of India.
The District Administration Ramban has already relocated over 500 people to safer places and also started the assessment of damages on war-footing to facilitate speedy release of compensation to victim families under State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) norms.
The village, having a mixed population of Muslims and Hindus, saw people helping each other during the testing times.
“We lost everything in a matter of a few hours when cracks started developing in our homes on Thursday evening. We fled to save our lives, leaving everything behind,” Mohd Iqbal, a victim told visiting media-persons today.
Iqbal, heading a family of eight members, said that as he returned home from work around 5 pm on Thursday, his children informed him about a one-and-a-half feet crack developing in their compound.
“I called my neighbour Deepak and we immediately shifted to safer place,” he said.
Eleven-year-old Kartik Kumar, a Class 3 student, said all his school books and shoes were gone as they had to leave in a hurry after their house developed massive cracks.
“We have no extra clothes to wear,” he said.
A middle-aged woman Anju, presently putting up at a relief camp inside the community hall at Maitra, Ramban said it takes one’s whole life to build a house and it is “very painful” when you see it collapsing before your eyes.
“We left with what we were wearing; rest had gone, swallowed by the earth,” She said and urged the Government to look into their plight and provide them land and money to rebuild their homes.
“We are concerned about the future of our children. We are farmers but nothing is left with us as our land has also gone,” she added.
A local leader Firoz Khan was all praise for the District administration for promptly responding to the crisis and providing all possible assistance to the affected families. He said the whole village has been destroyed and the continuous rains over the past two days have further added to the misery. The radius of the damage is up to five kilometres,” Khan said, requesting the Centre and Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha to come forward and announce a comprehensive package for the affected population.
Deputy Commissioner, Ramban Baseer-Ul-Haq who is also Chairman of the District Disaster Management Authority (DDMA), said the first step in addressing the disaster was the evacuation of the people to safety to ensure no loss of life.
“There are more than 60 houses that are affected by the calamity. 58 houses have been completely damaged. We have relocated over 500 people to safer accommodation at three places,” he added.
He said Geological experts are camping in the village and they are collecting samples to know the exact cause of land sinking and will submit a report in a week.
The DC said an alternate road was made operational to connect the Gool sub-division to Ramban headquarters and the restoration of essential supplies, including electricity, is almost complete.
He said a strong 30-member National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) team has joined the SDRF and local volunteers in providing a helping hand to the affected population to move to safer places.
The Deputy Commissioner, who has set up a camp office in the village to supervise the rescue and relief measures, said the District Administration is taking care of the food and shelter of the victim families and all required steps will be taken to ensure their rehabilitation.
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