Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Aug 16: There are complaints galore of slow rescue and relief operations in the tragedy-hit Chashoti village in Kishtwar district of Jammu and Kashmir with visits to the site by the politicians for alleged “photo-sessions” further hindering the works as families wait anxiously for the bodies of their loved ones.
At least 65 people were confirmed killed while more than 100 are reported missing after the cloudburst that flooded the village which is the starting point of an annual Hindu pilgrimage – Machail Mata Yatra – with several hundred pilgrims waiting at the “langar” (community kitchen) for lunch.
As rescue operations entered the third day, the grief turned into anger. A man from Jammu, who is waiting for news of over a dozen of his relatives, alleged that the rescue site has become a place for photo ops for the politicians, and that’s hampering the relief work. “20 JCBs are here, but only two are functioning. The rest aren’t. The ministers and MLAs are visiting multiple times. They are not letting the police and army do their (relief) work. It has been three days and only two rocks have been removed. Is this work? Whenever the ministers visit, they turn off the JCBs. Don’t we have families?” he complained.
Another man chipped in, “Our little children are missing.” “If not alive, give us the dead body,” urged the man from Jammu, adding, “The MLAs are bringing 10 others with them; they are stopping the (relief) work to get their photos clicked.”
The anxious men complained to the Chief Minister Omar Abdullah when he visited the cloudburst-hit areas on Saturday morning. “What happened? Tell me,” Mr Abdullah inquired. The men reiterated the same complaint to the Chief Minister and urged, “Please give us the dead bodies.”
“That’s what we are doing since the day this tragedy occurred,” replied the Chief Minister. As he tried to reassure him, he cut the politician in between, “Sir, meri suno (listen to me). The police and the army are working. Each MLA is getting a minister 10 times, and (saying) ‘stop the JCB and click our photos’. Are photos needed everywhere? We are helpless and worried.” He told the Chief Minister that 13 members of his family are missing, including his mother and her sister (mausi). Another man said his wife, two children, and two other relatives have gone missing since the cloudburst on Thursday.
“The JCB down there – it started after you arrived. Only two JCBs have been working since yesterday. We don’t want anything, just give us the dead bodies,” appealed the man from Jammu. When told that everyone was impacted by the tragedy, he replied, “If it had occurred to an MLA or minister, if it had happened to you, then action would have been faster.”
Mr Abdullah tried to reassure the anxious relatives about expeditious rescue operations. He also explained to the waiting people about the fragile ecological conditions of the region which prevent operating all the JCBs simultaneously but said all efforts were being made to complete the rescue operations as early as possible.
Later talking to media persons, Mr Abdullah expressed concern over recent natural calamities in the Himalayan region including in Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand and called for consultation with experts to see what can be done to “mitigate the risks and dangers.”
He said the entire Himalayan belt was now more prone to glacial lake bursts and cloudbursts. He was responding to a question about possibility of forming a team of experts by his government to safeguard the fragile ecosystem in Jammu and Kashmir. “We are going to have a look at it. It is not just what is happening in Jammu & Kashmir. Look at the scary videos that we saw from Uttarakhand. What is happening in Himachal? We are all now, I think, prone to these glacial lake bursts and cloudbursts. To this freak vague weather, we will have to collectively and individually consult experts to see what we can do to mitigate the risks and the dangers of these things,” Mr Abdullah said.
Asked whether his government will regulate pilgrimages in the mountainous regions, he said earlier these yatras were restricted to small groups of pilgrims ranging between 100 and 400 but now thousands of people are visiting. “Obviously, after seeing the changing patterns of the weather, we will have to think about a little more regulation, registration, etc. But if I make an announcement today, then it will be a mistake on my part because people’s religious emotions are also involved in this,” he said.
“We have to consult the religious leader, the people who are associated with these local pilgrimages, and take some steps,” Mr Abdullah said. He said though around 80 persons were reported missing in the flash floods triggered by cloudburst, it is not the final number. “Some people might have no mobile coverage or stopped halfway due to the circumstances (cloudburst). So do not take it (missing figures) as the final number. It will keep changing from time to time,” the CM said.
He said the flash floods brought down big rocks and “where we are standing used to be a river (bank). This was not a lake. It is a river, which has changed into a lake after the recent cloudburst. Some people washed away by the flash flood cannot be ruled out and our efforts are to find them and retrieve their bodies so that these could be handed over to their families.”