Early Times Report
Srinagar, Sept 19: Urging the state government to put its act together even at this late stage, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) President Mehbooba Mufti has said that the claims made by the government about relief efforts are mostly confined to the announcements.
After visiting several affected areas of South Kashmir and Srinagar, the PDP president, in a statement, said that the inadequate arrangement for pumping out flood waters from the most inundated areas is threatening lives and surviving buildings besides adding to the economic loss suffered by people in Valley.
"Many areas in South Kashmir, Srinagar city and other parts of central and North Kashmir continue to be inundated", she said adding that the mechanical dewatering of these areas has not been taken up at the desired pace.
In Srinagar, she said, the main business centers around Lal Chowk, Badshah Chowk, Hari Singh High Street, Residency Road, Moulana Azad Road continue to be filled with water with the result that the shops and business establishments are not able to revive their activity. The business establishments have suffered a huge loss in the recent floods but the inaction on the part of government has even snatched their opportunity to retrieve whatever goods might have survived the calamity.
Along with the continued inundation of residential areas like Rajbagh, Jawahar Nagar, Gogjibagh, Batmaloo, Karan Nagar, Bemina and Qamarwari the inability to dispose of dead animals has made it impossible for the survivors even to visit these areas not to speak of picking of threads of life again, she added. She said heavy duty pumps needed to be deployed but it seems that there is lack of coordination between centre and state governments as hardly any major dewatering machinery is in evidence anywhere functional in the affected areas. |
