Waiting for floodwaters to recede, many Kashmiris migrate to Jammu

SRINAGAR: Their houses still under water, hundreds of flood-hit Kashmiris have temporarily migrated to Jammu — and driven up rents and real-estate prices there.
Retired government engineer Omar Jameel, whose three-storey house in Srinagar’s posh Googji Bagh area is still submerged under floodwaters, has shifted to his small house in a Jammu colony for a few months.He had earlier taken shelter at his relative’s house in Rawalpora.
“I decided to shift to Jammu against the advice of my relatives, but I never wanted to bother them for long,” Jameel said. “My house in Googji Bagh is still submerged and will need complete renovation when the floodwaters recede. Therefore, I decided to move down to Jammu for a few months or for the coming winter season.” His family is still staying with relatives in Rawalpora.
“My father, who is a kidney patient, along with the entire family got held up in Rajbagh in Srinagar for four days and have now migrated to Jammu for the coming months at least,” said Majeed Hyderi. “The fear of epidemic and the non-availability of medical care forced the family to migrate to Jammu.”
A retired IAS officer from Jammu said the cost of real estate had risen to new heights following the migration of flood-hit Kashmiris. “There are hundreds of families from Kashmir who’re looking for a piece of land in Jammu city for constructing a flat or a house to avoid a similar devastation in the future,” he said.
In Srinagar itself, rents in ‘dry’ residential areas have gone up. Reports said residents of Baghat, Rawalpora, Sanat Nagar, Gulshan Nagar, Chanapora and Hyderpora areas had increased the rents of rooms and flats manifold, adding to the woes of flood-affected families. Nazir Ahmad, a property broker in Sanat Nagar, said the demand for temporary accommodation had grown manifold and the landlords were asking for handsome rents even for dingy rooms.
Muzafar Shah, currently living at a friend’s house in Baghat, wants to move to a rented house since he feels his own house, which is submerged in Jawahar Nagar, would take up to four months to become fit to live in again. “I’ve tried to get an accommodation for a few months, but landlords charge more than they would in normal circumstances,” Shah said.