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| Rains play havoc; 2 killed, several hurt as gushing waters damage 300 odd houses in Jammu, Samba | | | Bharat Bhushan
JAMMU, Aug 11: Heavy rains, that lashed most parts of the region in the wee hours of Thursday, played havoc as both the people and the administration were caught unawares. In several low-lying areas, people woke up between 3.30 to 4 am after the gushing rain waters entered their bedrooms by breaking the doors open. At the time of going to the print, a woman and a labourer were reported dead besides injuries to scores of others.
A landslide occurred on the circular road close to the radio station at Panjtirthi and the debris fell on a room of the house of Swaran Kanta. Three labourers - Brij Naik, Sudam Rawat and Suaran Kul, who stayed in the room -- were wounded. While Brij died later, the other two were admitted to the GMC hospital.
Landslides also occured on Panjtirthi-Nagrota road and Manda road as a result of which no vehicle plied on them today.
A mud house collapsed at Lower Thathar, Bantalab, resulting in the instant death of Asha Devi (30) and critical injuries to her husband Shamsher Lal and son Deepu (6) who were hospitalised.
Due to the flooding of nullahs, water entered police posts at Greater Kailash and Sidhra. Boundaries walls of six houses and a culvert were damaged at Sainik Colony where a road stretch was also washed away.
The rain water flooded roads, lanes and bylanes and also did damage to nearly 300 houses in Jammu and Samba districts. Estimated loss was put at several lakhs.
The worst affected in Jammu were Jawahar Nagar (New Plots), Rajiv Nagar, and localities and shops close to Ranbir canal where people held anti-government protests and blocked vehicular traffic.
While looking out for the lane that bore the brunt of the heavy rainfall at Jawahar Nagar, long queues of people, all leading to the spot, were anybody's guide.
The lane was littered with bricks of broken boundary walls, pillows, bedsheets, furniture items, broken windows and doors, a wrecked Chevrolet Spark (JK02AH/7470), a Maruti van (JK02G/1436), an autoricksha (JK02AF/3619) and about a dozen scooters and motorcycles, mostly belonging to daily wagers and attendants in shops and other business concerns. The Spark belongs to PDD employee Ajeet Kumar.
On one side of the lane are houses in series and columns while on the other is the boundary wall of 18 Wireless unit of army. Between the two flows a nullah, which is covered. The covering, about 6 ft wide, acts as a lane and people use it to walk homes. Some park their vehicles on it.
The water did not come from the nullah as its covering was mostly intact. It suddenly poured out in great quantities at about 3.30 am after breaking the army's outer boundry wall close to the house of Rampal, a security guard with a private company.
Before breaking the outer wall, the rain water, that seemed to have come in the form of a mighty swollen stream, damaged an inner wall. The distance between the two walls is less than 30 ft.
Ahead of the inner wall are the sprawling Manda woods. It is believed that the water took the form of a flooded stream and came down to this point from the high Wazir Point in Manda hills.
The gushing waters damaged two toilets in Rampal's house before forcing entry into over 20 houses and breaking army wall at over four places as one walked downwards.
In Asha Rani's house, doors were broken with the impact of flowing water and a colour TV, a microwave oven, a computer, kitchen appliances and furniture items were damaged completely.
Asha and her daughter Poonam, a private school teacher, sustained injuries on different body parts. Poonam said the water entered all their rooms at about 3.30 am when they were asleep.
In Romesh Chander's house, boundary wall and doors of all four rooms were broken. In the nearby Baldev Singh's house also, all household items, a computer, a UPS and an inverter were damaged. He is accountant with a private firm.
Water also damaged costlier items in the houses of Sanjay Gupta, a manyari dealer, Madan Lal, Jia Lal, Ashok Kumar, Kuldip and Ratan Lal Dogra.
In protest against the incident, the lane residents gathered on the nearby New Plots road at about 6.30 am and blocked it to vehicular traffic. The blockade remained for over four hours and people dispersed only on the arrival of senior police and civil officers who assured them of providing appropriate relief.
The situation was almost similar at Rajiv Nagar too where water entered about 250 houses and huts.
The worst affected structures belong to Mohammad Iqbal, a clerk in police department, Lalu Prasad, headconstable (HC) Mohammad Sabir (at present posted at Chhani Himmat police station), HC Talib Hussain (Munshi at Janipura police station), retired HC Abdul Aziz, cop Harun Rashid, Moulvi Lal Hussain (librarian in Rajouri public library), SGC Mohammad Bashir, HC Chain Singh, HC Mohammad Hafiz, HC Faiz Hussain and PDD employee Lal Hussain.
All of them are migrants from the militancy-affected parts of Rajouri and Poonch districts.
The water also entered the house of retired SSP Aziz Khan. A tubewell in front of his house was immersed in water.
The rain water entered the locality after breaking the nearby Jammu University wall. Six to seven feet of water had accumulated in some houses.
On Canal road, water entered dozens of shops and houses. In protest against the government's failure to provide rain water an exit by way of making deep drains and nullahs, people blocked the Canal road in the morning.
Road was also blocked by people at Sapwal in Samba for about four hours in the morning after rain water partially damaged about three dozen houses and shops in the area.
The protesters dispersed peacefully following an assurance by additional deputy commissioner R P Sharma that they would be adequately compensated.
One house was damaged at Mananu on Samba-Mansar road which remained blocked to traffic for four hours due to the flooding of a nullah.
Household items in over a dozen houses were damaged at Shiv Nagar in Vijaypur. At least five houses were damaged at Barian, Samba, where Dharam Chand, his wife Darshana Devi and Kajal, wife of Rinku, were hurt in one such incident.
The rain water also caused damage to some industries in Bari Brahmana industrial estate.
Official sources said the government had asked patwaris to prepare a list of those affected by rain water. At Rajiv Nagar, patwaris -- Narinder Singh and Raman - had so far prepared a list of 61 and 38 such families respectively. |
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