Chishoti Villagers Seek Relocation As Flash Floods Wreak Havoc

A stream that ran between two mountain ranges swelled after the cloudbursts. It toppled houses and eateries, and washed down village land, with several houses now remaining preciously closer on edges of torn down banks of the rivulet. The residents, who saw people drown away by the deluge in Chishoti village of Kishtwar have been living sleepless nights. The cloudburst that occurred on August 14 led to the flashfloods and left around 55 people dead and 87 other missing including the local villagers and pilgrims who were to trek up the hill to go for Machail Mata yatra.

Now with these terrifying experiences of sprinting for safety and witnessing small floods in the past, the residents have sought that they should be relocated to safer places. The villagers have urged authorities to provide them alternate land elsewhere in Jammu, as the area of over seventy households remains prone to floods and landslides.  According to local residents, two people were injured in the landslides two years ago in the area. Persistent flashfloods have raised fears that any fresh calamity would wipe out the entire village.

After the flash floods occurred, the entire hillside village smelled of rotten food, and its streets were caked in mud. The residents remained gripped by fear as they watched rescue workers recover body parts from beneath the massive rocks that had been swept down by the torrent.

Before August 14, the village that could be reached through narrow roads. It remained abuzz with activities related to Machail Mata yatra, but now the earthmovers and security force personnel dig through the rubble for bodies of missing people.

Recalling the horror that the flash floods brought in, Pushpa Devi, a local resident, said, “Most of the people here had a miraculous escape. As the stream roared, we fled and ran out of our houses and were lucky to escape unharmed. These images, these scenes give us nightmares now. A pall of gloom has descended on the entire village and we are all mourning the death of our loved ones.”

According to local residents, the flash floods have destroyed their crops. With farming being their main source of livelihood, alongside running food stalls for Machail Mata pilgrims, they have been left with no means to sustain their living. The yatra which commenced on July 25 was to conclude on 5 September, but has been suspended now due to the flash floods. Last year about 3 lakh pilgrims visited the shrine of Shree Chandi Mata Mandir, which is an important pilgrimage destination in the Jammu region.

On Saturday, Roshan Lal, 66, who wore a disheveled look and glowered over the death of his cousin in the flashfloods, said that the authorities were doing little to even remove the bodies from under the rubble. “It is unsafe for us to live here, we should be relocated to other places,” he said, adding that the rescue and search operations to find out the bodies of the local residents and pilgrims were slow.

The flashfloods have caused an extensive damage to the property here and has washed away over thirty eateries where the pilgrims undertaking the yatra had food.

Sakhsi Devi, another local resident, said that most of their people have now lost the means of livelihood after the flash floods as their eateries were swept away by the heavy flow of water. “We have nowhere to go, any fresh floods would leave us devastated,” she said. Apart from the eateries, people would run hand mills to grind grains to extract flour for living.

Another resident, Govind Rathore, said that the authorities should allot few marlas of land to them in Jammu so that they can live there without the threat of another disaster hitting the area.

“No amount of compensation would be sufficient, we only want our families to be able to live safely somewhere else so that we don’t have to go through another harsh experience of cremating our loved ones,” said Rathore.

Across the village, the floods have caused extensive damage to the public infrastructure as well. Few government buildings including that of the Tourism department and a community center have also been washed away, local residents said.