Now Reading: SSB jawan lost 7 family members in Chasoti cloudburst
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SSB jawan lost 7 family members in Chasoti cloudburst
A year after the cloudburst at Chasoti in Kishtwar killed 63 people and left 30 missing, SSB Head Constable Hussan Dass is struggling to rebuild his life. His wife, two children, mother,…
The Story in Brief
A year after the cloudburst at Chasoti in Kishtwar killed 63 people and left 30 missing, SSB Head Constable Hussan Dass is struggling to rebuild his life. His wife, two children, mother, sister, two nephews and sister-in-law all died in the August 14, 2005 flash floods. Dass last saw them on a video call hours before the disaster. Only his wife's body was recovered. His home in Benagarh village is mostly locked now. Dass says he received Rs 4 lakh compensation for his wife but nothing for the others because their deaths could not be proved with documents.
The Kishtwar administration confirmed 63 deaths and 127 injuries in the incident. Search teams worked for over a month but could not find the missing. The RTI response by activist Raman Kumar Sharma does not include all details sought on compensation. Dass says he must now care for his 80-year-old father while carrying the emotional weight of losing almost his entire family. His brother-in-law, who lost his wife and children, says he has not received compensation either.
The Indian Opinion
The Chasoti cloudburst compensation story exposes a cruel arithmetic: only corpses with documentary proof count. A uniformed jawan gets Rs 4 lakh for his wife but nothing for his mother, children, sister, or nephews because their bodies were never found. The district administration’s RTI reply lists 30 missing persons, yet the compensation rules treat them as non-existent. The real test will be whether the J&K government issues a circular recognising death certificates for the missing as sufficient proof for ex-gratia relief.
Source: greaterkashmir.com
This story was synthesised by AI from the source linked above.
