LISTEN UP ALL YOU NGOs

It was a dark yet pleasant night, spiced with the silent waves of the wind and the noisy banter of the stars. All in all, the 6^th of August 2010 was a good night. Till the stroke of midnight.

And then, all of a sudden, the clouds above split wide open unannounced and with a fury no one had seen before. The torrential sheets hammered down on every roof of Ladakh, the rich and the poor, the ground and first floors, all alike.

The result: destruction and devastation all around. While one lost the roof over his head, another lost her parents. Another lost an only child. And yet another, their entire means of livelihood. Everyone’s life had been uprooted in a matter of a few hours.

Choglamsar colony in Leh was one of the worst affected areas, with almost every roof getting buried with the force of the water, huge stones and a whole lot of mud that came hurtling down with it.

The time being half past midnight, it was only natural that Rigzin Chondol, Sonam Putit, Chatan Angmo, Thukjay Dolma, Chutzen Angmo, Dechen Zangmo, Tamchos Dolma and Tashi Tundup to name a few were asleep and caught unawares. While those who were outside, in neighbours houses or at relatives places managed to run to safety faster.

When these eight managed to get out, it was the same story everywhere. Either someone was searching for a lost family member or busy trying to get them to a safe spot. While Rigzin Chondol, her husband and two kids took refuge at the nearest Gompa, Chutzen Angmo and her family of three kids and a husband reached the Himank camp.

 Sonam Putit and family on the other hand landed up at the Road Makers organisation camp. While some were helped by monks, others were helped by the army. Still others by neighbours and other co-survivors.

With immediate relief pouring in from every quarter, food, warmth and a makeshift roof in the form of a tent came almost immediately. The people from Choglamsar stayed at the relief camps for around two days before they were contacted, scrutinised, grilled and finally deemed the most fit (being top of the list in terms of losses)for immediate roofs by the government.

What were these immediate roofs? A rehabilitation plan of the government that comprised temporary shelters from Hindustan Prefab Limited – in association with Public Sector Unit organisations like HUDCO, BMTPC, Coal India Limited, ONGC and SAIL. Not to forget, this shelter was accompanied by a sum of Rupees two lakhs as part of the PM’s fund.

Costing over Rupees five lakhs, the temporary shelter was to provider a roof for the people in the coming winter months while the two-lakh compensation was for the people to build an adjacent room. All in all, the people affected in the floods would be given a two-room house – one that people from all over India had probably donated a day’s salary towards.  The plan seemed fool proof.

Each wall of the prefab shelter is a sandwich board, being made from two metal sheets that are stuffed with insulation material in the centre. While the metal sheets werre intended to protect them from further water attacks, the insulation material was designed to keep the people warm.

And so the government sat back, content that they had met the PM’s compensation and rehabilitation deadline satisfactorily.

Despite protests from NGOs and other relief organisations that these shelters would not be able to face the harsh winters of this region where temperatures dip to -25°, the deal had been stamped on and trucks galore went bounding through the entrance of Solar Colony, packet with these prefab shelters.

Before anyone could make another move, the residents were stuck with a prefab shelter each and the 1^st instalment of the compensation money.

And so the residents abandoned their tents and moved into their prefab homes. It had started becoming hard to live in the tents, as cold winds had started descending down on the people right from September. So the prefab shelters were a welcome change from their cold tents.

 Almost immediately they realised that this was not going to work either. The metal walls chilled the air more than the winds outside. Sleeping in these shelters started giving people sore backs and headaches.

Certain that these were going to be no match for the coming winters, the panic-stricken people started running helter skelter in search of masons, labourers, mud bricks and wood needed to make another room. 

“These rooms, however they turned out, would definitely be warmer than these huts. At that time, all we could think of was a solid yet warm roof above our heads. The size of these rooms did not matter,” justifies Chatan Angmo.

And so the back-breaking work of getting their lives back on track began. Within a month, almost every resident of Solar Colony had built a room adjacent to the prefab shelter.

Sure enough, when winter started settling in, the metal shelters were worse than ever. To start with, the roofs have no vent, so heating a Bukhari to stay warm was out of the question. Then, the windows started freezing up with ice, making them almost impossible to open. One had to go outside, sickle the ice out and only then open the windows.

Coming to the roof, Tashi Tundup speaks up. “Every morning, we found it decorated with water droplets that had condensed on the inner roof and walls. This got everything kept in the hut damp, right from the blankets to pillows to clothes.”

So every morning, the people had to hang everything out to dry, take it back inside in the evening, only to have it damp again by morning. And so the cycle continued.

The icing on the cake of this brilliantly planned colony however is the toilet system. On entering the place, one sees no sign of toilets anywhere whatsoever. Answering this question, Chutzen Angmo raises her voice and quips, “Do you remember passing little STD booth kind of structures on your way here? Those are our toilets. We have no bathrooms and no privacy.”

Kindly donated by an NGO as makeshift toilets, the government while releasing over 150 prefab structures forgot one of the most basic essentials. Too smelly to even think of entering, the people here have resorted to going out in the open.

While some have a shower outside their meagre homes, some go into the plastic-fibre structures for lack of any other space available and drizzle a bit of water on themselves before the stench of urine and faeces drive them out.  Not to forget, their small sizes allow them to get clogged within no time and refuse to let go for a long time.

Another reason for the abandoned toilets is the scarcity of water in this region. Lack of a sewage system, taps and bore wells have forced these people to resort to the open. “What we need are traditional Ladakhi toilets. In winters, anyway all the taps freeze. How do they expect us to keep the toilets clean then?” questions Tamchos Dolma.

While they call for a tanker every two days to meet their drinking and cooking water needs, their pockets do not permit them to buy water for baths and the toilets.

Many ministers, media people and NGOs have come and heard their sorry stories. But nothing has been done in their favour, for the government has strictly cordoned off that land. They say that Solar Colony is their responsibility. No external body may enter and get their hands dirty in the sands of Solar Colony.

While the residents of Solar Colony seem to be getting used to this way of life, the government has long forgotten its errors. All except one.

In all this darkness, there still remains one tiny ray of light. Well understanding the plight of these people, the current CC has approached a number of NGOs to help build these people toilets. However, it remains to be seen how much of this finally-sensible plan actually materialises.

So while everyone waits to see what comes off the discussion of their toilets, at the same time they cannot help but fearfully await the return of the Waah Star – the one that presided over the skies last year while devastation struck.

Ladakh is known as a desert land. Forget downpours, even slight rain is pretty uncommon here. As a result, all the houses in Ladakh are built to withstand the 5-month cold winters where temperatures drop anywhere between -25 to -30°. Houses to withstand rain were never a necessity.

Until now.

“It is but natural, to fear a repeat 6^th August. I don’t know how many houses have the strength, how many people have the will power or to survive another such flood. Even this new land we have in Solar Colony is not 100% safe. As the 1-yr anniversary draws nearer, our fears grow larger,” concludes Rigzin Chondol.