Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Sept 6: Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said today that the Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir were unlikely to be delayed in the wake of worst floods in Jammu and Kashmir in the past six decades and admitted that the Government was yet to reach some of the villages in Shopian and Kulgam districts of Kashmir and Rajouri and Poonch districts in Jammu as bridges, culverts and roads have been washed away.
Addressing a press conference at his official residence this evening, Omar listed vast damage caused to infrastructure, civilian property, loss of lives etc and disclosed that several villages in both the regions were inaccessible, many villages were submerged-fully or partially while many others have suffered extensive damage.
Replying to a question, Omar said the Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir were scheduled to be held in November-December and “we hope that situation caused by the floods would have been tackled by then and rebuilding of infrastructure set into motion”.
He added the problem in Jammu and Kashmir is that if the Assembly elections are delayed beyond November-December, they could be held only in March and April in view of weather conditions. As term of Assembly expires on January 19, the Governor’s rule had to be imposed for a brief period, which nobody wants. Therefore, the Assembly elections should be held on time, he said.
Omar listed his three major priorities in the aftermath of flash floods and rains that have wreaked havoc in Jammu and Kashmir and were worst in history of the State. He said priority number one for the Government was to rescue the civilians trapped in the floods and shifted them to safer places followed by their relief and rehabilitation and then rebuilding of infrastructure.
In response to a question, Omar said it was not the time to order inquiries into damaged and washed away infrastructure as it could divert attention of the administration from relief and rescue operations. He was asked about washing away of a portion of fourth Tawi bridge in Bhagwati Nagar, which had been constructed only 15 months back at the cost of Rs 90 crores.
“Enquiries will be ordered but at present our priority is to rescue the people and provide relief to them,” he added.
Drawing parallel between last year’s Kedarnath tragedy and the Jammu and Kashmir’s flood, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah today hoped that his Government will be able to keep the death toll less by better and speedy rescue operation.
“By giving such a name of Kedarnath tragedy-2 your tickers run fast, but the situation is like that. There was loss due to rains and here was also loss due to rains.
“That State has faced such a situation and this State is facing such a situation. However, there were more deaths there than here,” Omar said.
He was replying to a question whether JK’s rains triggering flash-floods can be termed as Kedarnath-2.
Omar further said “but we hope that we will be able to keep death toll less by better and speedy rescue operation.
“Army has played good role and are rescuing people by posing their lives to danger, we want the last man rescued.”
Omar said air-lifting of marooned people may begin tomorrow if weather improves even as South Kashmir remains completely cut-off.
“We have not been able to touch South Kashmir. One NDRF battalion has been air-dropped at Awantipur airport because we could not transport them from Srinagar. So, we are trying to send them to affected areas. Two more battalions have been sent to Pulwama,” Omar said.
Emphasizing that the State administrative machinery had swung into action soon after getting warning from the Meteorological Department, the Chief Minister said the magnitude of the problem was such that efforts were not proving to be sufficient.
“We just need one break of weather. Our helicopters are on standby at Jammu and Srinagar. As soon as we get that break from bad weather, we will start air-lifting people and providing them with relief material,” he said.
The Chief Minister said the State is facing shortage of boats to rescue people marooned in over 300 villages which have been cut-off completely.
“We have arranged every possible boat, about 250-300, available in Srinagar and surrounding areas and put them into service. But one must understand the magnitude of the situation as about 300 villages are completely cut off,” he said, adding that all rafters from tourist resorts of Pahalgam and Manasbal have been hired for rescuing the civilians. In fact, he added, each and every boat is being used to save the people but admitted that definitely the administration was facing shortage of boats.
He said the Army Commander has assured that they would even airlift the boats to South Kashmir if weather improves tomorrow.
On whether there was no weather alert, he said the Divisional Commissioner had alerted all Deputy Commissioners but no one was thinking of the tragedy of such magnitude, which hadn’t been seen in the past over 50 years.
The Chief Minister said although every possible effort is being made to rescue people, bad weather and limited resources are major hindrance faced by the state administration.
“At some places, people did not cooperate. They did not pay heed to advice of State officers to relocate them. Now it has become difficult to rescue them because of bad weather and floods,” he said.
The Chief Minister said the State needs medicines, blankets, tents and clean water and once water recedes efforts have to be made to prevent outbreak of any epidemic.
Omar said he was not concerned whether the Centre declares it a national calamity or not “as long as they fulfill promises made to us”. He added that use of word national calamity hardly matters as it was the Central assistance, which the State needs and “if we get that, we will be happy”.
Thanking the forces for their efforts, Omar said Army, Air Force, NDRF and SDRF, State administrative officials have all pitched in the rescue measures.
Omar said out of 3000 villages in Kashmir, 390 were completely submerged under water while 1225 others have been affected by floods. In Jammu, he added, there were 3325 villages and 1010 of them were under floods-partially or fully. There has been huge damage to houses, fields, fruit crops, infrastructure, road, bridges, culverts, water supply schemes etc, which would take a lot of time to rebuild. Above all from this is the loss of lives, which was still being estimated.
He said about 100 deaths have been reported so far in the floods but added that the administration was counting the death toll taking only the number of bodies recovered so far from Nowshera, where the bus carrying marriage party was washed away. There were reports of 50 to 60 persons travelling in the bus while only 25 bodies have been recovered so far.
The Chief Minister said a number of water supply schemes were completely or partially non-functional and efforts were being made to make them functional as early as possible but added that the process was time consuming in some areas. Omar was also flanked in the press conference by PHE Minister Sham Lal Sharma, MoS PHE Nazir Gurezi and MoS Home Sajjad Ahmed Kitchloo.
Omar said, Army, IAF, NDRF, SDRF, civil and police administration have been rendering lot of help to the flood victims and have saved many lives with their co-ordinated operations so far. He added that he has taken up the issue of specialized medicines for the people from the Centre as water borne diseases could break out once the water level starts receding.
The Chief Minister said several areas especially Poonch district were virtually without power as four main electric towers have collapsed in rains and floods.
Omar said the Centre has authorized the State to use Rs 1000 crores worth funds from the SDRF and has also assured that there would be no shortage of more funds. He added that the Centre has also assured the State that it would depute a team of the Ministers for assessment of the situation and provide relief to the people.
“We will be submitting a detailed memo to the Central team of Ministers when they visit the State listing our demands,” the Chief Minister added.
Asked whether the illegal constructions on the banks of river were also responsible for the tragedy, Omar said the Government recognize that in both the provinces the illegal constructions had come up on banks of the river, which shouldn’t have happened.
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