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| State Government paid no heed to warning from MET department, pushed lakhs to suffer | | Went to tackle flood with 250 boats, few hundred sand bags | | Jehangir Rashid
SRINAGAR, Sept 23: The Jammu and Kashmir Government headed by Omar Abdullah has a habit of shying away from responsibilities and lying before the common masses whenever they are caught in a catch 22 situation. Same has happened with respect to recent devastating flood that hit the state very badly.
The Chief Minister has in the recent past on more than one occasion said that the flood was so devastating that no Government would have managed the things in a better manner. He made this statement only to escape from the public criticism since his Government failed to cope up with the situation.
The State Government paid no heed whatsoever to the weather warning or advisory issued by the Srinagar centre of Meteorological department. The department had asked the State Government to take all the necessary steps since it had predicted that heavy rains are going to lash the entire state. It had also said that there is likelihood of flashfloods in different parts of the state.
On September 3, Director Meteorological department, Sonam Lotus issued a weather warning at 12 PM according to which it was said that weather would be inclement across the state. The MET Director had in the warning said that heavy to very heavy rain will be recorded in most parts of the state for four consecutive days.
"A Western Disturbance over Jammu and Kashmir and its interaction with monsoon currents over North West India is likely to affect the state from today the 3rd of September (Wednesday) to 6th of September 2014 ( Saturday) with occasional gaps," said Sonam Lotus in the warning.
The MET Director said that under the influence of this weather system, moderate to heavy rain/thundershower and snowfall over higher reaches will occur at most places in Kashmir and Jammu divisions and at a few places in Ladakh region particularly along Srinagar-Jammu, Srinagar-Leh and Leh-Manali roads etc.
"Some places may receive heavy to very heavy rain/shower during this period. These weather conditions may trigger landslide and flash flood in vulnerable areas of the state. The above weather system may disrupt surface and air transport during these days. During above period day temperatures may fall by 7-8 deg Celsius," said Sonam Lotus.
The State Government did not pay any attention to the weather advisory or warning and the consequences turned out to be disastrous for the entire state. The sheer negligence on part of the Government led to the killing of 400 persons with the losses running into thousands of crores across the length and breadth of the state.
Even the basic things that are needed at the time of a disaster were missing on ground and the state machinery was caught napping on every front. There were no boats available to tackle the flood as soon as the water of river Jhelum breached at many places along the bund and entered the Srinagar city thus causing havoc all around.
Early Times has learnt that the State Government is in possession of just 250 boats in the Kashmir valley. These boats were dispatched to South Kashmir districts of Anantnag, Pulwama, Shopian and Kulgam after they bore the initial brunt of the flood. The boats got stuck there only since the water played havoc in South Kashmir and then entered the Central Kashmir especially Srinagar district.
The Government was also caught napping on other front and that was in the form of non-availability of the sand bags. Just few hundred sand bags were at the disposal of the State Government and as such the flood water could easily make a passage and entered the summer capital of the state along with the other parts of Kashmir valley. |
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