Pune Landslide: Why Neighbouring Villages Live in Fear

Kalwadi, Pune: After any tragedy, once the rescue workers leave, the affected locals are left to themselves to rebuild their lives.

It is no different in the hilly Malin village, located nearly 120 kilometres from Pune, a landslide struck last week killing more than 132 people and destroying more than 40 houses.

While bodies continue to be dug out, the impact of the tragedy is now being felt in its neighboring areas. Villages in the vicinity live in fear.

One such village is Kalwadi which NDTV visited. Reaching Kalwadi was not easy. The road leading to the tiny hamlet nestled in the misty Sahyadris was swept away by a landslide. It takes a one and a half hour-trek through a steep mountain side to get there. With waterfalls and lose boulders on the way, locals avoid venturing out during the monsoon, except in emergencies.

But once you enter the village, all that greets you is locked homes. The 200 residents of the village have left their homes to live in the safety and security of a government-run camp. Only their livestock are left behind.

Villagers were gripped with fear after cracks appeared in several homes in the village on the day of the landslide that struck Malin. They come back daily only to sow their crop as their livelihood depends on it.

Kondiba Sable, a resident of Kalwadi village tells us, "This is the rainy season. We have to come here and work in the fields. We have come to work in the fields only."

Another villager Dnyandeo Ghode says, "Now we all live in a school that the government has provided. They have shifted us out of here. They have told us to stay there because of the rains."

A team from the Geological Survey of India is expected to visit the village today.

Sources in the local administration say 17 villages in the vicinity, which face the same risk, have been identified. But any decision to relocate their homes will be taken only after a survey for the entire state by the Maharashtra government.