Kulgam, Dec 9: Ghulam Hassan Gorsi is among the many six lifeless labourers resting in a row beneath rectangular mounds of earth in Waltengoo Nar, an outlying village in south Kashmir’s Kulgam district.
Gorsi died in an accident together with 5 different employees on Monday morning, when a bus they have been travelling in crashed after plummeting in a deep gorge in Shimla, the capital metropolis of Himachal Pradesh.
The lifetime of Gorsi, 47, serves as a poignant instance of hope and resilience.
In February 2005, a heavy and steady snowfall spurred mighty avalanches burying your entire Waltengoo Nar, situated on the foothills of awe-inspiring Pir Panjal mountains, some 20 km from Kulgam city.
The large slabs of snow buried almost 160 individuals alive.
Gorsi, who was in Punjab, misplaced his total household within the incident.
As he learnt concerning the tragedy, he rushed house solely to seek out his household six ft beneath the snow.
Gorsi confronted the tragedy valiantly and tried to rebuild his life.
After a while, he married once more and began dwelling fortunately together with his spouse and youngsters.
“He by no means misplaced his braveness. He picked up items and rebuilt his life,” stated Muhammad Younus, a relative of Gorsi.
Every year Gorsi and different males from the village would go to northern states like Punjab and Himachal Pradesh to take up menial jobs throughout winters to feed their households again house.
“This yr he had gone only a week in the past,” Younus stated.
He stated that the tragedy had enveloped your entire village in a blanket of grief and raised the spectre of the 2005 avalanche.
Like Gorsi, different victims – Shabir Ahmad, Fareed Ahmad, Mushtaq Ahmad, Gulzar Ahmad, and Talib – from the village have their share of tragedies.
Shabir, a category 12 pupil, was the one brother amongst seven siblings.
“His household is struggling to reconcile with the lack of their son,” stated one in every of his neighbours.
He stated that the tragedy upended their life immediately.
Equally, Fareed, one other sufferer, had married merely 6 to 7 months in the past.
Now, he has left behind a pregnant spouse and previous mother and father.
Gulzar’s two new child infants had died in September whereas Mushtaq had misplaced his mother and father and brothers to the monstrous avalanche.
Talib too was a sufferer of the snowstorm.
The village, comprising round 160 households, belongs to the economically and socially marginalised Gujjar group.
After the 2005 avalanche, the federal government rolled out a rehabilitation coverage and constructed hutments for the victims in Wasknag and Nounugh Colony.
Nonetheless, many affected households are but to be allotted these lodging.
Choudhary Nazir Ahmad, a Gujjar chief residing within the space, advised Larger Kashmir that round 40 hutments have been nonetheless pending.
He stated that many of the households of the accident victims had not been allotted such lodging.
Nonetheless, Ahmad stated that the district administration supplied a right away money reduction of Rs 25,000 to the households of the deceased.
He demanded ample compensation for the victims’ households.
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