By Shafee Ahmed Ko, TwoCircles.net
Ambur (Tamil Nadu): 5 Muslims were killed in on the night of Sept 15th which was 25th night of the month of Ramadan in Ambur in Vellore district of Tamil Nadu. A torrential rain that began at 10pm washed off around 300 thatched huts in matter of hours.
Five, including three from a single family were killed as a result of the flash flood. Munni (25), her daughter Shanu and son Akbar were among those killed. The fate of Munni’s husband Amanullah is not known. Inayatullah (16) and student of class IX was also killed.
About 220 people are displaced and temporary sheltered in a nearby school. Cash of Rs.2000, 10 Kg, rice per head, 2 liters of kerosene per head had been arranged for their daily life from the government of Tamil Nadu.
The poor dwellers of Ambur made several hutments in a dry canal and they had been living past several years with no foreboding of ill fate. The canal where these people lived is one of the ten tributaries being stretched from a miniature dam in Aanai Maydu, within the throw away vicinity of catastrophic area. Once the expansion of four ways road system was in progress, it is understood that due to requirement of more space for the road system, all the ten canals had been merged into single one where these unfortunate people made the dwelling place. On the night of calamity flood rose to unmanageable level that washed away most of thatched huts.
Talking to TwoCircles.net, local business leader Nazeer Ahmed said that permanent dwellings are planned with the philanthropic help of tanning industrialists like Rafeeque Ahmed, N.M.Zackria, N.Mohamed Sayeed, N.Mohammed Faruk and also some of the generous hearts from the Jain Community.
Ambur is quite midway between Chennai and Bangalore, and it is a heavy industrial belt in shoes and finished leather.