Suhail Bhat
Srinagar, Nov 28: Over 14 years after snowstorm devastated Waltengonard, a tribal hamlet in South Kashmir’s Kulgam district, the residents are awaiting reconstruction of their houses.
In 2005 a snow storm swept across the tribal hamlet and shrouded 200 houses. The snow entombed nearly 158 residents in their homes and left several others injured. The catastrophe displaced 1000 residents who are awaiting promised homes for last 14 years.
The Government had promised re-construction of houses within one year but failed to do so. Out of total 128 proposed houses the Government has only managed to re-construct 74 while as 54 families are still homeless. Among the pending houses, the construction work of four buildings is underway and plinth for 11 more houses has also been laid.
The residents alleged that Government’s preparations for and response to the natural disaster was woefully inadequate as they could neither predict the disaster nor reconstruct the damaged houses.
“Fourteen years is a long time to live without a home. When tragedy unfolded on us, Government promised big things, but did nothing. They let us down,” Mohammad Shafi Cheehi told Excelsior. He accused Government of showing a lax attitude towards the issues. “Government was never serious about the issues,” he said, adding they had repeatedly asked the Government to speed up the work but faced disappointments.
An official privy to the details told Excelsior that there were multiple reasons behind the overstretching of the project. One of them, he said, was administration’s inability to manage the funding. “Issues of funding affected the pace of work all these years. Funds were always there but administration was unable to utilize it properly,” he said, adding that unavailability of land also hindered the process.
Another resident, Khater Mohammad said that Government promised them houses within one year but they failed to deliver. “Fourteen years have passed and the Government has only managed to build half the number of houses here, leaving a vast population homeless,” he said.
Deputy Commissioner Kulgam, Aijaz Ahmad, told Excelsior that the work on the pending houses is underway and they would be completed next year.”All the problems have been sorted out and construction work is underway. The funds has been revalidated and the work is being done through Rural Development,” he said.
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