Samba: In Jammu’s Samba district, the sound of firing and shelling has given way to the bellowing of unfed calves, cows. The remains of a charred cow amid the debris of a collapsed shed in Chak Dulma village is a grisly reminder of the loss of livestock across the border belt.
More than 50 goats were killed in one mortar shell explosion in Rakh Amb Tali village, local panchayat member Iqbal Chand told ThePrint. “This isn’t just about animals. These were people’s bank accounts, their food, their everything.”
For the residents of villages near the Line of Control (LoC), the damages have been extensive. Samba, a largely agrarian district, not just suffered large scale damages to homes, but also massive loss of livestock, the mainstay of the local economy.
Samba district suffered loss of over 340 livestock animals during the three days of cross-border shelling from 7 May to 10 May, according to figures from the Department of Animal Husbandry. At least 90 percent of the affected households have no alternate source of income, they said.
Cattle, buffaloes, goats, and poultry were killed, barns burnt down, and fodder stores destroyed as India and Pakistan forces exchanged bullets, mortars and shells in the heaviest escalation in recent years.
The most affected were the border villages of Chak Dulma, Rakh Amb Tali, and Suchetgarh belt, where families dependent on dairy and animal husbandry now face total economic collapse.
“Our barns were full on the 6th. By the 10th, all that remained were carcasses,” said Rajni Devi, a resident of Chak Dulma, standing beside a gutted cow shelter. She lost four buffaloes, her only livelihood. “We used to sell milk to Jammu dairies. Now, we don’t even have enough milk for this village.”
A team from the animal husbandry office has begun surveying losses, but delays in verification are already fuelling anxiety. Villagers claim that relief announced by the administration hasn’t reached them yet.
“We are expecting compensation as promised by the administration, but nothing has moved on the ground so far,” said Sukhdev Singh, a dairy farmer from Suchetgarh, who lost three cows and sustained shrapnel wounds while trying to save them. “The government has fixed Rs 10,000 per animal (in compensation). But even a local-breed cow costs Rs 50,000 now.”
Beyond livestock, agricultural fields lie abandoned. Shelling forced families to flee their homes, halting wheat threshing and kharif preparation. “There’s no labour, no water, and no animals to plough,” said Dr. Ramesh Kohli, an agriculture extension officer in Samba.
The economic interdependence of farming and animal husbandry means the loss of livestock is not just a one-time blow, but a cascading crisis.
As the dust settles, villagers are seeking not sympathy, but swift action. “We didn’t choose this war, but we’re paying the price,” said Rajni Devi, a resident of Samba railway colony.
The Samba resident lost four cows of which one was pregnant on the second night of shelling (8 May). “If the government can send jets across the border overnight, surely it can send compensation to our villages just as fast,” she said.
(Edited by Tony Rai)