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Reconstruction of houses destroyed by troops in Nawakadal

Srinagar, June 02, 2020 (PPI-OT): In occupied Kashmir, rising to the occasion, people of the territory donated about Rs 3 crores in just 12 days to build the houses which were destroyed by Indian troops during a cordon and search operation in Nawakadal area of Srinagar on May 19.

The troops had martyred top commander of Huzbul Mujahideen, Junaid Sehrai, along with an associate and destroyed 19 houses during the operation. The troops had also looted cash and jewellery from the houses. Abdul Rehman Dar, president of local Masjid Committee at Kanimazar Nawa Kadal said, “We opened an account in a bank and urged people to contribute generously.” He said, the Masjid committee also started an online campaign to raise donations for reconstruction of the damaged houses.

“Not only the houses were damaged but all valuables in the houses were destroyed. Gold ornaments got melted due to fire. We fixed a particular target amount. After receiving the target amount in donations, we have stopped collecting donations from Sunday. We have made video appeal telling people that we have received the target amount and closed the bank account,” he said and expressed gratitude to people for contributing generously.

Dar said they sought assessment report from a team of engineers to know how much money is needed for completely rebuilding the damaged houses. According to Dar it is for first time in occupied Kashmir that locals are bearing expenses to rebuild houses destroyed by Indian troops during a cordon and search operation. He said within 12 days, on the appeal of the local community, around Rs 2.5-3 crore were collected in a bank account for rebuilding the houses.

Dar said the Masjid committee has distributed Rs 33 lakhs among three families, whose family members were killed in a house collapse during the operation. “One of the families was given Rs 16 lakh and Rs 17 lakh were distributed to two other families, who lost their family members in house collapse,” he added.

For more information, contact:
Kashmir Media Service
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