Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Feb 5: The Deputy Commissioner Kargil, Prasanna Ramaswamy today visited the Zanskar Sub-Division where he toured extensively to address the threat posed by the Tserab River (Phuktal) landslide and blockage.
The Deputy Commissioner also conducted a meeting with all the Sub-Divisional officers, officers of the G.R.E.F and members of the civil society of Zanskar wherein he formally launched ‘Operation Khatak’, which is the Kargil District Administration’s initiative to ensure complete planning and preparedness to ensure safety of life and property in the event of a natural calamity resulting in a complete breach of the Phuktal river blockage.
As part of Operation Khatak, the district administration designed a foolproof plan of early warning, quick response and safe rehabilitation of the inhabitants of the villages lying downstream of the blockage site. Early warning and communications centres have been established in Phuktal village, Cha village, Padum and Kargil, vulnearble hamlets have been thoroughly mapped and alternative rehabilitation centres have been identified at higher grounds. Further, Thirty villagers in the vulnerable hamlets have been identified and appointed as contact persons to receive and relay timely warning on the ground at the cutting edge. As the most important constituent of Operation Khatak, Forty quick response teams have been constituted by the District Administration who shall be trained and deputed in the vulnerable hamlets to assist the local population in the eventuality of a disaster.
The Deputy Commissioner interacted with the local population, sensitising and assuring them of the preparations being undertaken by the district administration to ensure one hundred percent preparations to tackle any disaster due to a breach in the Phuktal river blockage.
The quick response teams comprise equal numbers of trained police personnel and local civilian volunteers. The Deputy Commissioner Kargil thereafter visited the Ufti village, which is a particularly vulnerable habitation and assured the local population of their safety and security. The District administration also assured Indian Army’s G.R.E.F units stationed in Zanskar of complete safety of their men and equipments, an important aspect of Operation Khatak.
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