‘Shelters for Leh’s homeless should be ready before winter’

NEW DELHI - Actor Rahul Bose, the ambassador for Oxfam India, Saturday said it was the responsibility of the government to build safe shelters for those affected by the Aug 6 cloudburst in Leh town of Jammu and Kashmir before the onset of winter.

“We hope this process will be completed and the apprehension of people that they might have to face untold suffering during winter will be allayed,” Bose told the media after visiting the flood-affected areas in the town of Leh and surrounding villages with the chief executive officer of Oxfam India, Nisha Agarwal.

“Oxfam India will keep track of the government’s efforts to provide shelter to the affected people,” Bose said.

He said the Oxfam team also spoke to T. Angchuk, the deputy commissioner of Ladakh district, who assured them that building shelters before the onset of winter was a priority for the government as well.

A massive cloudburst triggered flash floods in Leh town, leading to heavy loss of life and property. Nearly 200 people perished in the calamity.

As of now, Oxfam India has been providing water and sanitation facilities to the flood affected people in Leh, Bose said.

The rehabilitation programme includes a shelter package for winter to 1,000 households that have borne the worst of the floods and safe water provision to 2,000 households that have been directly and indirectly affected by the disaster.

As part of the relief operations, bathing cubicles and latrines have been constructed in the Solar Colony relief camp, the largest relief camp with more than 200 homes, Oxfam officials said.

In addition, shelter and hygiene kits have also been distributed among the affected households in nine villages.

“A typical hygiene kit comprises two buckets, one mug, 120 aqua tabs, 10 ORS packets, 400 gm bathing soap and 800 gm washing soap. The shelter kit included polythene foams, one tarpaulin sheet, two thick sheets and one ground sheet, one pressure cooker, twin burner LPG stove and two blankets,” Agarwal said.

Noting that shelter was the most urgent need of the people, she said: “We have a month’s window to build shelters for the affected and to save lives.”

“The construction would begin once the relief package announced by the Prime Minister was disbursed,” the Oxfam said.

“In addition, we want to help prepare people of Leh for disasters in the future,” Agarwal added.

The duo oversaw Oxfam India’s relief work in Taru village and Choglamsar village - one of the villages destroyed by the flood.