Winter closes in on flood-devastated Ladakh
By Megha Sandhu, TNN
Oct 23, 2010, 03.57am IST LEH: As an unforgiving winter waits to descend on the mountainous desert of Ladakh, its people face the grim possibility of spending the bitter months without a proper roof on their heads. Having suffered due to the August cloudburst, residents of Leh’s many villages have been banking on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s word that all houses destroyed during the calamity would be built before the onset of winter. It’s been over two months since that promise, and hope is fading away. Relief work in the flood-affected areas is moving slowly, and those holed up in camps say the cold months ahead could be even more unbearable than the cloudburst. With minimum temperature dipping to as low as minus 30-40 degrees celsius during extremely biting days, Leh winters are harsh for even those furnished with heaters and ‘bukharis’. … Sonam Angmo, who is living in one of the tents along with two young children, said, “We were promised Rs 2 lakh but I haven’t got a single penny. My husband is in Bihar and I have to construct the house alone.” Her immediate priority is to arrange a heating apparatus for their home, when it comes up. In Sabu village — once a model village under the PM’s programme — where rubble still lies strewn as it did two months ago, Sangborma, a middle-aged homemaker, complained that the government had done nothing to improve their lot. “Our lives have changed forever,” she despaired. For 35-year-old Stanzin Dolma, who lost her daughter in the cloudburst, winter seems to have come soon enough. “Water has already begun freezing in pipes during morning hours. It’s unbearably cold in the tent and nights are especially gloomy. I’m waiting for the compensation that is to be deposited in my bank account,” she added. Stanzin is staying in Himank relief camp, the biggest such quarter set up by Army after the cloudburst, and where every house has a sad tale to tell. NGOs have provided bathing cubicles and toilets in the area, where chilly evenings leave everybody huddled together in makeshift canvas structures. …
