By F. Ahmed, IANS
Srinagar : At least 25,000 peasants face an unsure future even as authorities assert that villagers displaced around an Indian Army ammunition depot that exploded in Jammu and Kashmir will soon return to their homes,
“The areas around the depot are limping back to normalcy though there are houses to be restored and compensations are being worked out for the damage,” said Hemant Lohia, the deputy inspector general of police in south Kashmir.
“We have just three camps for the displaced villagers. But these are in the nature of makeshift camps as people visit their homes during the day, do a bit of restoration work and then return to spend the night at the camps,” Lohia said.
It is not simply a problem of relocating thousands of displaced people.
Almost all the families are peasants who had to be shifted in the wake of the monstrous blaze inside the army’s 21 Field Ammunition Depot at Khandroo, 85 km from here in Anantnag district.
“It is not a simple question of where we live. The question is what happens to our livestock, our paddy crops, our walnut and fruit trees and finally to our future. It is a question of our peasant life as such,” said Shadi Lal, 45, from Pehlu village from where nearly 1,000 villagers ran to safety as smoke and fire rose like hell on the morning of Aug 11.
Shadi Lal’s brother works at the depot.
“We are not against the army camp at Khandroo. But even though the ammunition depot is a source of livelihood for many of us, it is a hanging sword none of us can continue to live under,” Lal said.
The sentiments of displaced residents from the nearby Shangus village, the largest of villages in Anantnag with over 2,000 households, are more bruised.
“Nobody can live around the camp now as long as the ammunition depot continues there. Last year leaflets were distributed saying none of us should build any concrete structures around the depot. It looks like we are now permanent refugees,” said Abdul Salam, 55, among the displaced villagers from Shangus.
Interestingly, the huge tragedy caused by the accidental fire inside the depot also tested the communal harmony of the affected people.
In Mattan town, 12 km from Khandroo depot, the Auqaf committee (Muslim trust for mosques and shrines) and the Hindu Welfare Society jointly set up a camp for the displaced villagers that included Muslims, Hindus and Sikhs.
In calamity, people belonging to different religions continued to demonstrate their innate sense of coexistence.
“When the shells fell on our houses they did not discriminate between a Muslim, Pandit or Sikh. We have lived as brothers and shall always do so,” said Abdul Salam though he is relentless in his demand for the shifting of the ammunition depot from Khandroo.
As the autumn starts setting in Kashmir, the paddy crop would have to be harvested by the end of the next month.
“The danger of unexploded shells inside the paddy fields is something we cannot overcome. The other day one member of the bomb clearing squad died while removing unexploded shells. If that can happen to people trained for such a complicated job, what about my family and me?” asked Bashir Ahmad, 48, another farmer who lives in the vicinity of the camp.