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Srinagar: Hundreds of people, including children and the elderly, have been left homeless after the ground beneath the hilly Kalaban village in the Poonch district of Jammu and Kashmir started sinking last week following torrential rains.

According to officials, at least 72 residential houses, three schools, two mosques, four graveyards and several animal shelters scattered on the foothills of Pir Panchal mountains have been damaged due to ongoing land subsidence. Kalaban is home to 3,808 residents as per the 2011 Census.

However, locals put the number of damaged structures in the village at 150, alleging that the delay in rerouting a rivulet, which changed course after land subsidence began on September 7, could put more residential houses situated downhill at risk.

After the land subsidence in Kheri village, allegedly due to the construction of two tunnels for the Jammu ring road project, this is the second incident where large-scale damage has been reported in a residential area in the aftermath of the torrential rains last month that wreaked havoc across the Union Territory.

A residential house is seen buried in the ground as rescue workers film the aftermath in Kalban village of Poonch (Photo: Nazim Ali Manhas).

“The land is sinking non-stop, causing the tributary to change course and discharge its flow underground with no outlet,” said Abdul Hamid, a resident of Kalaban, “If immediate steps are not taken and machines are not brought to divert the flow of water,........

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