More than 100 goats perished Monday night in Kupwara when a sudden drop in temperature, heavy rains and hailstorm hit Tumina forest area where a group of nomads with their livestock were camped.
The shepherds had arrived in the foothills in Chowkibal areajust two days earlier from Rajouri.
They had erected tents for themselves and the goats were outin the open when weather suddenly turned bad, an official said.
“The shepherds had kept their goats under the open sky.Heavy incessant rains, hails and cold conditions from Monday evening havecaused the death to over 102 goats,” the official said.
The perished goats belongedto Hasan Khatana, Kala Khatana, Zaman Khatana and Rehman Khatana, all residentsof Shali area of Rajouri.
A team comprising of Tehsildar Tarathpora and SHO of Vilgamwere deputed to the area to look into the incident and assess damage caused bythe natural calamity.
“The estimated loss of livestock is around (Rs) 10 lakhs.High officials in the administration will decide the compensation,” TehsildarTarathpora, Mohammad Maqbool said.
The shepherds say they have lost all that they had.
“Wehave nothing left. Without compemsation there is no hope left. Bad weather hastaken away our only source of income,” said Zaman Khatana.
“We tried to save the goats. We have only a few tentsavailable in which we took shelter ourselves.”