SRINAGAR: At least four families have been shifted to safer locations after deep and widening cracks appeared in a village in Jammu and Kashmir’s Rajouri district, damaging residential structures, shops and agricultural land, prompting authorities to seek a geological assessment of the affected area.
The cracks emerged in Kotli Kalaban village of Manjakote tehsil on Saturday and expanded significantly within 24 hours, raising concerns among residents and district authorities.
According to a report by The Indian Express, the district administration has temporarily relocated four affected families and requested the Geological Survey of India (GSI) to send a team to investigate the cause of the phenomenon.
Rajouri Deputy Commissioner Abhishek Sharma, who visited the village along with Senior Superintendent of Police Gaurav Shikarwar and other officials, told The Indian Express that precautionary measures had been initiated and expert assistance sought to assess the situation.
Official sources said the administration has kept a government school building and a local panchayat building ready to accommodate residents if conditions deteriorate further.
Authorities said the village comprises nearly three dozen houses, most of which have not been affected so far. Officials also clarified that the incident does not appear to be a case of land subsidence but involves the emergence of large cracks in the ground.
Residents, however, said the damage has been extensive in parts of the village. Locals claimed that at least six residential structures and several shops had developed cracks, while two houses and two cattle sheds suffered major damage. Cracks have also appeared on the village link road and in agricultural fields.
Abrar Ahmed, a local resident whose newly constructed house developed cracks, said some fissures had become so wide that two people could stand side by side inside them.
The Border Roads Organisation (BRO), which is undertaking widening and realignment work on National Highway 144A near the village, said the exact cause of the cracks could only be determined after a detailed geological study. However, the agency acknowledged that the geological strata in the area are weak. The highway alignment, currently around five kilometres away from the village, is being shifted closer and is expected to pass within approximately 100 metres of the settlement.
The incident has revived concerns over geological instability in parts of the Pir Panjal region. In September last year, a major landslide triggered land subsidence in Badhaal-B panchayat of Rajouri district’s Khawas tehsil, damaging at least seven structures, including four houses, and displacing four families after the Kotranka–Khawas road was cut off.
During the same month, several structures in the Kalaban area of neighbouring Poonch district, including three school buildings, a mosque, a graveyard and a village road, were reportedly damaged due to sinking land.
