Sinking Duksar village in Gool | Sajjad Shaheen demands immediate relocation, rehabilitation of people

Banihal, Feb 20: National Conference (NC) leader and District president, Ramban Mir Sajjad Shaheen has expressed serious concern over the subsidence of a major chunk of land in Duksar village in Dalwah Gool in which about two dozen houses, including a stretch of Gool road have been badly damaged.

Dozens of people have been rendered homeless and Sangaldan- Gool road has got blocked.

   

“Relocation of people from the affected areas should be done expeditiously and their permanent rehabilitation should be the first priority of the government”, Shaheen said in a statement. He added that the government should work on short and long-term plans to address the situation and depute teams of disaster management along with a team of experts to the affected village to constantly monitor the situation and also make Medical treatment facilities available on the ground.

NC leader further said that care should be taken to ensure that the livelihoods of people are not affected,” adding that alternate locations should be identified for permanent resettlement of the affected people.

Shaheen said that the land subsidence has been going on for more than a decade in erstwhile district Doda as similar incidents of sinking of various village land has taken place earlier also in Dharam Gool, Naibasti Dharam some years back followed by Sarbagni (Ramsoo), Hirnihal (Khari), Wagan (Banihal) and recently in Thathri, (Kishtwar) and now in Duksar (Gool) but the problem is aggravating by each passing day.

He said that major construction activities related to mega projects like Railway Tunnels, Widening of NHW and major hydel projects have been going on in various areas for a long time without thinking about the pressure the tows are capable of coping with, he said, adding this may also have contributed to such catastrophes.

Shaheen has urged upon the LG lead Administration to set up a panel comprising representatives of the Ministry of Environment and Forest, Central Water Commission, Geological Survey of India, National Highway Authority of India among others to conduct “rapid study” and examine the cause of the occurrence of frequent land subsidence and its impact on the human settlement, buildings, highways, infrastructure and riverine system.

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