Camping in Batamaloo, homeless victims cry official apathy

Camping in Batamaloo, homeless victims cry official apathyWith harsh Himalayan winter approaching fast, twenty eight families of Batamaloo locality who lost their houses and household to floods are spending nights under open sky and are equally worried about their future.
Over two dozen aggrieved families are being provided food by a local committee.  While some of the families are living in tents, others effort to survive in the Public Health Centre (PHC) building which  has no doors and windowpanes. The PHC’s under construction first and second floors where these aggrieved families stay is even without washroom.
Talking to Greater Kashmir from this “Self Help Refugee Camp” the victims broke down while narrating their woeful tales.  “I didn’t receive any help from the authorities. My family is living in this tent, which we hired out of our resources. We feel cold, water enterers into tents whenever it rains. In brief, I can tell you we are struggling to survive,” said Manzoor Ahmad Wani.
He informed that some utensils and food items were provided to them by the locals. “We are worried about our welfare. Locals collected food and other necessary items including warm clothes for us.  They are doing their best to help us in every possible way but then till how long,” he added.
A young girl wishing not to be named said she misses her home a lot. “We are thankful to people who are helping us here but it is difficult to live somewhere other than your own home. I miss my home and the privacies we enjoy there,” she said as tears rolled down her eyes.
Her family said no officials have visited them for consolation or to provide any relief. “We will re-build our residential houses. Our own people will not let us down. Some of youth have been approaching us and telling that they would work as laborer without charging anything for re-building our houses. However, the official apathy we face will always remain in our hearts to retell that to the coming generations,” said Fayaz Ahmad, another aggrieved.

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