As the snow begins to accumulate on the lofty mountains of Waltengu Naar, a remote Gujjar dominated hamlet in south Kashmir, Muhammad Ramzan and his wife get panicky recalling the snow calamity that had shattered many families and devoured lots of lives in the area over a decade ago.
Thirteen years after the snow tsunami which killed over 100 people in 2005 here, government is yet to rehabilitate 44 families that survived the snow calamity but became the victims of mental health disorder. The villagers say as many as 52 families are to be rehabilitated.
“We have become fearful of snow now. These white flakes hide in themselves a rage that we the residents of Waltengu Naar have seen in 2005. Since then every time it snows, we fear there may be repetition of 2005,” said Ramzan, who has seen his six children getting buried under the snow in 2005.
In what reflects the government’s indifference, the cracked mud hutments of the Gujjars damaged in 2005 are yet to be repaired by government. The rainwater seeps into the hutments and makes life miserable for the inhabitants.
“We live on the top of Waltengu Naar. This is the place where the snow tsunami had created havoc and turned this place into a graveyard. We have mass graves here where 20 members of a single family lie buried. But, still government has no plans to rehabilitate us,” said Mohammad Shafi, a survivor, adding that the government seems to have no plans for their rehabilitation.
Scores of families, according to villagers, were buried alive in their hutments on the night of February 19 when over 10 feet snow had accumulated after five consecutive days of snowfall at Waltengu Naar.
“On the next day with great hardship, a couple managed to reach to the people in adjacent plain areas and informed them about the disaster. Thereafter the rescue work was initiated.
“Initially the neighbours helped, and later the government and the non-government organizations came to our rescue,” said another survivor, Noor Mohammad.
He added: “Of the 180 families that were affected in 2005 snow tsunami, government has rehabilitated only 128 families.”
“During the initial years some NGOs and the government agencies thronged the village, but as the years passed they completely forgot us,” the villagers said.
“In winter we leave our homes and come down to live in the apartments of those people who have been rehabilitated. And, we feel ashamed to share rooms with women there,” they said.
Dr Mushtaq Marqoob, noted psychiatrist who had been visiting the victims of Waltengu Naar post disaster, said, “People who are associated with disaster and rehabilitation should introspect and try to come out of the slumber. This is a small group of people who are suffering enormously every winter.”
“There were funds available for these victims, but 50 percent of those funds were not utilized. This is a criminal attitude towards these sufferers. If the government could not rehabilitate a handful of people, position of other downtrodden can only be imagined,” he said.
Deputy commissioner Kulgam, Talat Parvez said, “We have rehabilitated 68 families. The construction work of apartments for 12 families is going on, and rest 32 families, who wanted their hutment at a different place, the work for that is also under process.”
While talking about the delay in rehabilitating the families, Talat said, “The delay has happened, but now we are hopeful of shifting them to new apartments very soon.”