Senior Congress leader tours dozens of villages, listens to people’s grievances, demands immediate rehabilitation and adequate compensation for victims
Kishtwar 23, Sept. 2025: Senior Congress leader and former minister Ghulam Mohammad Saroori visited to the far-flung hilly areas of Bunjwah. During the tour, he inspected rain and cloudburst-affected sites, reviewed the damage to houses, schools, and farmlands, and assured the local population that their grievances would be conveyed to higher authorities.
During his tour of Bunjwah, Ghulam Mohammad Saroori visited several villages including Dunadi, Patlshalla, Binoon, Padri, Kewa, Jawalapur, Tanta, Patnazi A and B, Padroot, Dehani, and many others. He met local residents, listened to their hardships, and assured them that their issues would be highlighted at the government level.
At Middle School Dehni Upper, Saroori found the building completely destroyed, leaving students unable to pursue their studies. He urged the Chief Education Officer to intervene immediately and make alternative arrangements. He pointed out that the condition of schools across remote areas, reached only after long treks, was deeply concerning.
Saroori said that due to cloudbursts and landslides, houses, agricultural land, and fields had been devastated, leaving many families homeless. He highlighted that affected people had not received sufficient aid under the SDRF, and that many villages were completely cut off as even basic pathways were destroyed. He stressed the urgent need for restoration of link roads to ease people’s suffering.
While visiting Nali, Saroori observed that despite being home to hundreds of families, the area lacked accessible roads, worsening the hardships of residents. He demanded that Chief Minister Omar Abdullah immediately provide compensation of at least two to three lakh rupees for families whose houses were fully destroyed, and that the victims be resettled at safer locations, similar to the rehabilitation of Chasoti victims in the past.
He criticized the meagre relief being provided by the government, such as ₹3,000 or ₹6,000 and a few kilograms of ration, saying it was an insult rather than relief for victims who had lost everything. He called for a special rehabilitation package on humanitarian grounds so that affected families could rebuild their lives with dignity.
Saroori spent time with the victims in the devastated villages, personally witnessing their plight. Reiterating his demand, he said the people of Bunjwah had lost everything and that their rehabilitation should be the government’s top priority. Without serious and practical steps, he warned, it would not be possible to overcome this humanitarian crisis.
