More than one dozen residential houses and a mosque have developed cracks in the Garsoo village of Chenab valleys Doda district.
Locals told that the evident case of land sinking that occured last week after the land started sliding leading to panic among the local residents of the remote village in the Doda district, which is situated along the Doda-Kishtwar stretch of National Highway-244.
The panicked locals blame the unabated construction work National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited (NHIDCL) for the damage.
A local resident whose house has suffered damage said, “When they (officials) came along with the media, they provided us with tents, so we moved into these tents, but after the media was gone, they never returned. They said they would help, but we haven’t seen anyone since. We still lack proper shelter, and receiving compensation seems unlikely.”
“The company which is responsible for our condition sent its representatives, but they rather than accepting the blame, held us responsible for the damage further alleging that we had constructed our houses on state land. We built these houses with our own hard work, and now our homes are destroyed because of them. They should compensate us. It has been ten days since this disaster struck, and no one has offered any assistance,” an agitated local said.
“We set up tents for safety from animals, as we have no proper shelter. Our family of six includes a woman who recently gave birth and now has a newborn baby. Where shall we go?” a female resident asked.
Another victim whose house has suffered damage too said, “We even spoke to them long before this incident, to make strong walls and give us standard quality material for that, but who pays heed to the poor?”
“We have been given nothing. Only some makeshift tents have been granted to us. After that nobody from the officials has come here to check what we are eating, or if we are even alive, nobody nothing.”
“This is all due to constant road widening and the digging of the soil which has lead to this major land sinking. The entire village is sliding down due to this road construction,” lamented a local resident.
This is not the first incident of land sinking reported in the Kashmir valley. For the last few years such incidents are a frequent happening in the region, most of them allegedly due to the developmental works going on in the hilly terrains.
On April 27, 2023 an incident of land sinking took place at Halmathpora area of Kupwara district, North Kashmir.
Locals they said that the cracks first began appearing at the Tingshore hill, Halmathpora. The cracks were soon followed by land sinking and damage to the property of the people, this incident caused several families to leave there homes and relocate to a safer area.
On March 4, 2023 incident of land sinking took place at Lachampora area in Rajwar Handwara, north Kashmir. The incident caused damage to the property of a local resident who spoke to The Kashmiriyat about the incident stating that the base of his under construction house had been damaged and buried under the ground after sinking.
On July 17, 2023 an incident of land sinking took place at Batengoo area of Anantnag district, South Kashmir. The locals spoke to the Kashmiriyat about the appearances of massive cracks in the road fearing that the whole land might end up sinking into the Jhelum.
On February 21, 2023 an incident of land sinking took place at Gool Dalwah area of Ramban, jammu and Kashmir.
In the middle of the night people woke up due to the land sinking and slipping away, two residential houses collapsed and several others were heavily damaged, an ancestral graveyard also sunk into the ground, the incident caused severe damage to area not just residential but the agriculture sector also took a hit, the incident caused people to abandon their homes to find a safer places to live at.