‘Sinking villages’: 3,000 forced to flee homes in Jammu’s Pir Panjal, Shivalik ranges

People living in majestic Pir Panjal and Shivalik ranges in Jammu region built their dream homes believing the mountains would shelter them, but now they are forced to leave their villages which have started "sinking".

Eleven villages in Ramban, Reasi, Jammu and Poonch are facing Uttarakhand's Joshimath-like sinking crisis since September 5, as cracks have appeared in houses, fertile fields are disappearing and families are fleeing their ancestral homes in fear and uncertainty.

More than 3,000 people have been forced to leave their homes, officials said. Land sinking in Ramban district's Tangar village near the Sawalakot hydel project has damaged 22 to 25 houses and a government high school, while 140 more houses across a four-kilometre area are at risk.