Families Hit By Pakistan Shelling During ‘Operation Sindoor’ Pin Hopes On New Housing Scheme In Jammu Kashmir
HRDS India plans 1,500 prefabricated homes to help shelling survivors rebuild lives. This gives hope to hundreds of displaced people.
Published : September 13, 2025 at 5:34 PM IST
Srinagar: As bombs and guns rattled mountainous villages along the Line of Control (LoC) in Kashmir in May, Nazir Ahmad War huddled his family in a small room. Outside, a mortar shell struck his commercial cab, setting off a fire that consumed half a dozen residential houses. But he, along with his neighbours, narrowly escaped but lost all.
Three months on, the 44-year-old, with his wife and two minor sons and a daughter, lives in a small makeshift shelter adjacent to the piece of land where their two-storey home once stood in remote Tangdhar's Batapora village in Kupwara.
Dozens of houses alongside the border were affected, and a large number of people were displaced by shelling and firing from Pakistan following India's Operation Sindoor. The aerial strikes executed by the Indian military targeted terror camps inside Pakistan in retaliation for the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack that killed 25 tourists and a local civilian.
In response, Pakistan pounded the LoC and International Border with heavy shells and carried out drone and missile strikes at several places in India.
“We ran out on the road as flames razed our two-storey home with eight rooms in no time,” War says. “I lost my source of income, as the cab I drove is still awaiting repairs. The insurance cover does not compensate for losses in war.”
He is among hundreds of homeless people who are struggling to find a roof over their heads ahead of the coming winter, when the mercury will drop below freezing point.
The government provided compensation, offering over three lakhs for the reconstruction of their houses, but the families see the funds as insufficient for rebuilding.
But now, War, along with hundreds of families, is hoping for a new beginning after the High-Range Rural Development Society (HRDS India) announced building over 1500 houses for victims who suffered damages during Operation Sindoor and recent floods in the region.
The HRDS India signed a memorandum with Divisional Commissioner Jammu Ramesh Kumar and Divisional Commissioner Kashmir Anshul Garg for building free houses in the Union Territory, according to a spokesman of the Lieutenant Governor’s administration. The two officials will identify beneficiaries.
“It is the initiative of LG Manoj Sinha and reflects his vision of empowering and safeguarding the future of those affected by natural calamities and unprovoked shelling on civilian populations by the enemy,” said the official.
Saritha P Menon, who is the HRDS India Administrator and was part of the signing of the MoU event in Jammu and Kashmir, said that the construction for the houses will start within 30 days after getting the beneficiary list.
She said that the prefabricated houses made of fibre cement boards will be adaptive to the region's climate.
"The cost of each house is estimated to be Rs 10 lakh with two bedrooms on the ground floor and one upstairs," Menon told ETV Bharat. “The houses will be completed in six months. We will offer a 35-year guarantee and free maintenance for these houses.”
These houses, though with slight changes including budget, are part of the one lakh houses the organisation is building across the country for marginalised populations, Menon added.
The MoU said that HRDS India has agreed to provide the additional benefits to all beneficiary families, including free internet, 15-year life insurance cover to beneficiary families and monthly health check-ups.
Besides, the trained HRDS India volunteers will visit each beneficiary household monthly to disseminate information about new government schemes relevant to the beneficiaries and also undertake repainting of each beneficiary house every five years at no cost to the beneficiaries.
For War, a new house will offer his children the chance to focus on their studies since the displacement has affected them. “My children lost both religious and school books in the fire. The loss has affected our mental health,” he added.
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