BERMENI, SUNJWAN (Jammu): In the early weeks of December, as night temperatures began dipping to 5 degrees Celsius, men take turns outside their make-shift tents where about two dozen tribal families are putting up after flash floods in August damaged their houses and displaced them. They stay awake to keep a watch, weeks after a leopard pounced on a cow and killed it.
The night vigil is hardly a guarantee for safety for these families forced to live under the open sky, adjacent to a dense forest, for over three months. On the night of August 26–27, 2025, flash floods triggering massive hillside erosion devastated Lower Bermeni, fully displacing 15 families and partially damaging the homes of six others within a few hours.
250 families of the tribal Gujjar Muslim community have lived at the foothills of Bermeni village in Sunjwan, on the outskirts of Jammu city for over two centuries on state land originally allotted to their forefathers by the then-government of the Dogra monarch.
The houses, comprising a mix of old and newly constructed concrete structures, are sprawled across the low-lying hills. A link road from Sunjwan turns into a dirt track that snakes its way for another two-kilometres right up till the village.
A large chunk of the land under the village was washed away in August when a cloud burst and rain suddenly came in a gush, the affected families reveal. “We had never seen something like this before,” one of them said. “Our concrete houses were new,” he tells, pointing to the debris.
Many houses were completely buried under the soil. Luckily, they managed to escape in time.
The police and district administration had evacuated the families immediately after the disaster and shifted them about four kilometres away from their original settlement, along the roadside near a nallah. More than three months later, the affected families continue to live in makeshift tents under conditions residents describe as unsafe, degrading, and inhuman.
Even as men maintain a constant vigil at night to ward off wild animals, the tents where the women and children are huddled continue to be vulnerable. Anu Jan, 35, talks about noticing some movement under the coarse matting inside the tent.
“The children were playfully fighting inside the tent, and one of them fell when I noticed something crawling underneath him,” she says, still horrified by the memory of the sight of a snake so close to her child.
“I pulled him away. I picked up a stick nearby and quickly pushed the snake out of the tent, and then beat it with the stick till it was dead,” she reveals, adding, “I had no choice."
Waseem Choudhary says that the relocation site is unfit for human habitation. “We do not feel safe here. Last month, a leopard killed a cow nearby, and recently a young child narrowly escaped being bitten by a snake. With winters approaching, our very survival haunts us,” he said.
According to residents, the site lacks basic amenities such as electricity, toilets, and regular drinking water. While the municipality occasionally supplies water through tankers, families say the quantity is grossly insufficient to meet daily needs.
Women are forced to relieve themselves in the open, and stepping outside the tents after dark has become extremely risky due to the presence of wild animals. Men take turns staying awake at night to keep watch, while children remain confined inside the tents.
Impact on Children and Livelihood
The prolonged displacement has had a severe impact on education. Nearly 25 to 30 school-going children from the affected families have stopped attending classes.
Parents say it is not possible to send them back to Upper Bermeni from the temporary site, particularly given the lack of transport and the unsafe living conditions.
The tents are located where the dilapidated road begins, on the banks of a nallah bordering a dense forest. The schools in both Bermeni and Sunjwan are nearly two kilometers away, and in the absence of public transport, families are unable to send their children to either village.
“Our children are not going to school because we cannot send them back to Upper Bermeni,” Waseem said, adding that the uncertainty around rehabilitation has deepened fears that many children may permanently drop out of the schools.
Livelihoods have also been badly affected. The families are permanently settled residents of Bermeni. Their primary occupation is rearing cattle and selling milk in nearby Sunjwan markets. Displacement has severely disrupted their livelihood, leaving both families and livestock exposed to harsh conditions.
Rehti, a 65-year-old woman, said their cows and buffaloes now remain out in the open during winter. “Our main source of livelihood is at stake. Our livestock is exposed to harsh winters. They too feel the cold. We fear we might lose cows and buffaloes due to the severe cold, if not to wild animals,” she said.
She added that there are no safer areas for grazing the animals. “Where should we take them, and who will protect our tents and our children's lives if we take the animals to distant grazing pastures?” she asked.
Mohammad Javed (50), who lives with his wife and three children aged two, five, and ten, recalled the night of the disaster. “We were living in scattered houses in Lower Bermeni, right at the foothills. The flash floods washed away our homes as the entire hillside slid down,” he said.
Javed said the families have received no relief apart from temporary tents. “There is no electricity and no toilet facility. Our women are forced to relieve themselves in the open. At night, it becomes extremely dangerous to step outside the tents,” he added.
Environmental Concerns and Official Response
Environmentalists attribute the calamity to unchecked and unplanned development in ecologically fragile zones of Jammu and warn that similar disasters may recur if environmental norms continue to be violated.
Bhushan Parimoo, an environmentalist from Jammu, said the entire area falls under the Bahu Rakh wildlife zone.
“Originally spread over 59.5 square kilometres, the area was declared Bahu Rakh and handed over to the Wildlife Department in 1982. However, neither the Forest Department properly transferred it, nor did the Wildlife Department take effective control. Today, it has shrunk to barely six square kilometres,” he said.
Parimoo noted that vast stretches, from Sidra to Chowadi, Parmandal Road, Gujjar Nagar, the University area, Army camps, Narwal, Bhathindi, Sunjwan, Gandhi Nagar, and even the Golf Course, fall within what was once designated wildlife land.
“During the Maharaja’s time, only a few families lived here. It was a dense forest, difficult even to pass through. Reckless and unplanned development has destroyed these forested areas, all of which legally fall under wildlife zones,” he added.
He stressed that the problem is not limited to Bermeni alone. “If you look at the larger picture, whether in Kashmir, Kathua, Ramban, or Reasi, the lower hills are sliding everywhere. We lack an inventory mechanism. The Soil and Water Conservation Department and its sister agency, Remote Sensing, are doing virtually nothing. They are failing in their duties,” he said.
Parimoo unequivocally says that the residents should not be blamed. “This is not just about poor families. When MPs, ministers, and MLAs have occupied such land, how can these people be blamed? Many of them have lived here for decades,” he said, citing the Forest Rights Act, which mandates 66 percent forest cover in hilly areas and 33 percent in plains.
No Relief in Sight
Meanwhile, displaced families say they have approached several government departments, including agriculture, forest, and rehabilitation authorities, and have also met the concerned minister. “More than three months have passed, but nothing concrete has happened. We have still not been rehabilitated on a proper and permanent basis,” said Gafoor Ahmad (40).
In a recent development, the Jammu and Kashmir Cabinet on Monday, December 22, 2025, cleared a policy for the allotment of five marlas of state land to people affected by floods and landslide-like natural calamities during August–September this year. The policy will now be sent to Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha for approval.
However, Parimoo questioned the move. “Where does the Union Territory have surplus land to allot five marlas to affected families? It will inevitably be forest land,” he said.
Meanwhile, as the winter deepens, the displaced families of Bermeni continue to live in uncertainty - exposed to wild animals, extreme weather, disease, disrupted education, and the loss of livelihood - while waiting for immediate and meaningful intervention from the authorities.
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