Even the dead await ‘rescue’ in Kashmir
M Aamir Khan
Tribune News Service

Srinagar, September 10
Tabish Khan, a banker from Magarmal Bagh, had left his home on Sunday in a hurry after floodwater had started inundating the neighbourhood. Though the area was still submerged till this afternoon with rescuers unable to row their boats into the interiors, Tabish took the risk of entering Magarmal Bagh all by himself to know the well-being of his stranded relatives.

He managed to reach his home, sometimes swimming and sometimes crossing over the inundated walls dangerously. While, as expected, he heard pleas of stranded people calling for rescue, an elderly person in the neighbourhood had breathed his last on Monday.

“The deceased’s family from the second storey were crying for funeral arrangements. Unfortunately, boats cannot still reach the place and the family has not been able to bury the body for the last two days. Though water near my house has receded to the first storey, the area close to the main road still has a gushing flow and thus boats cannot enter,” Tabish said after he returned to Sanatnagar, where he has taken shelter at his aunt’s place.

He said he was glad to see his relatives alive and safe, though stranded, but felt helpless as he was unable to help the deceased.

While burials have become impossible at places still submerged, some managed to bury their dead away from their ancestral graveyards. Abdul Hamid (name changed), a local from the uptown Rawalpora area that was not much affected by the flood, had received relatives from the Chanapora area that was inundated. However, among the guests, an elderly lady passed away on Monday. She was then buried at Rawalpora.

“We had come to seek shelter at Rawalpora after affected by the floods. One can say she was lucky that she breathed her last here as we managed a burial as many have not been able to bury the dead so far,” said a bereaved relative.

What militancy couldn’t do to us, the floods did. We lost everything, says a Pandit family
Amir Karim Tantray/ Ravi Krishnan Khajuria
Tribune news service

Shivpora (Srinagar), September 10
They stayed back and braved all odds during the peak of militancy in 1990, but today this Kashmiri Pandit family had no choice but to leave their home after the floods inundated the city.

The Koul-Kundu joint family and a Muslim family of Mairajuddin Wani was today rescued by the Army, led by Captain Manish Kumar Singh, from the Shivpora locality of Srinagar.

The Tribune team along with the soldiers reached the house of the Pandit family and talked to them on board the rescue boat.

When militancy broke in the Valley in 1990, most of the Kashmiri Pandit families migrated to other parts of the country and a few members of the minority community were killed.

The Pandit family fought every odd during militancy to stay back. Now, with the floods and their house getting submerged, they moved out to the three-storeyed house of their Muslim neighbour which they had to leave today.

Members of the family shared their mental agony and happenings of the past seven days when water entered their house and they were living on the second floor. “The floods have ruined everything. What militancy couldn’t do to my family, the floods did. We have lost everything,” said Inder Kishan Kundu, who along his family was rescued by the soldiers this evening.

“It was my Muslim brethren who gave shelter to my family in their house but now we are leaving that also,” Kundu said.

Three children of the family were feeling relaxed after boarding the boat and heading towards the Badami Bagh cantonment area where rescued people are putting up.

“We don’t know how and from where the water came. We have been living in this house for the past few days waiting for evacuation. Every minute was bringing more agony, but thankfully Army men rescued us,” said Sneha, 8, daughter of Sushil Koul Jalali.

While passing through the flooded streets of Shivpora, Sneha saw her school, Woodland House School, the ground floor of which was under water. “My school is also under water but thank god my classroom on the first floor is safe,” Sneha told her mother sitting next to her.

The Shivpora locality is situated on the left bank of the Jhelum. The water level at a few places in the locality is more than 15 feet despite the water having receded by five or six feet.

Though most of the families in the locality have been rescued by the Army, a few families refused to leave their houses.

Epidemic threat looms over flood-hit J&K
Sumit Hakhoo
Tribune News Service

Jammu, September 10
As the water is receding fast in the flood-affected areas of Jammu and Kashmir, the danger of outbreak of water-borne diseases looms large over the region with health officials worried about huge task ahead of them to prevent spread of epidemic in coming days.

With breakdown of the civil administration and the Army engaged in the rescue and rehabilitation process, piles of rubbish and dead animals lay scattered in the fields. The situation has compounded due to destruction of sanitary and piped water networks as well as the lack of equipment and technical expertise. Water-borne diseases such as jaundice and diarrhoea will complicate the situation further if there is any outbreak.

“What we need is safe drinking water and chlorine tablets, but the government is nowhere to be seen,” said Mohan Lal, a resident of Ganeshu Chak in Jammu.

“The post flood situation is always dangerous. We want to avoid epidemics which in such cases can spread and for that different teams have been set up to ensure the supply of chlorine tablets. In several villages, our teams are working with the Army,” said Dr GS Pathania, Director of the Health Department.

Pontoon bridge a lifeline for 45 villages cut off in Jammu
Foodgrain supply reaches 1.5 lakh people after four days, courtesy the Army 
Amit Khajuria
Tribune News Service

Ganeshu Chak (Jammu), September 10
As the civil authorities have so far failed to provide any relief to the flood-hit families, the Army has come to the rescue of the inhabitants of 45 villages that were cut off with the rest of the world for the past four days. The Army has prepared a pontoon bridge, which has become a lifeline for these villages.

The only bridge connecting the population of about 1.5 lakh people with the rest of the world had collapsed on Friday morning. The Army deployed four “Engineering Task Forces” to construct a pontoon bridge, which has connected these forward villages with the rest of the world.

“Four Engineering Task Forces completed the bridge successfully within two days and vehicles started plying on it in the morning,” said Col Manish Mehta, PRO, Defence.

The villagers were relieved as the supply of foodgrains, which was stopped after the bridge got damaged, got resumed.

Sudesh Kumar, a shopkeeper at Sampuranpur, said, “The supply of foodgrain was stopped and no relief was sent to this side of the bridge by the administration. The crops have been damaged and people are left with nothing to eat.”

“Only the Army and the Ram Mandir Trust at Mandal village were providing food to the people of these villages,” he added.

The villagers were disappointed with the functioning of the state administration. They said all villagers were living in dark as the pole of the main supply had been damaged.

Bridging the gap

• The Army deployed four “Engineering Task Forces” to construct a pontoon bridge in two days.
• Villagers were relieved as the supply of foodgrains had stopped after the bridge got damaged. The villagers are disappointed with the functioning of the state administration.

snapshots

EC puts off poll preparedness visit

• The Election Commission on Wednesday put off its proposed visit to J&K for review of election preparedness following the flood situation in the state
• The date of the next visit will be announced later. The poll body has not yet taken a call on whether to postpone the Assembly elections following the calamity

Fresh landslides damage more houses

• More than 100 houses at two different locations in the Ladha Dhar area, the remotest part of Panchari tehsil, were buried under fresh landslides on Tuesday night, but luckily no human loss was reported.
• Additional NDRF and Army personnel were air dropped at the Saroli Dhar Top, adjacent to the Panjar panchayat, to speed up the evacuation of remaining 38 bodies, feared trapped under the debris after a hill abruptly came down on Saturday

35 players airlifted from Bakshi Stadium

• Thirty-five out of the total of 165 sportspersons, who were stranded at Bakshi Stadium, Srinagar, were on Wednesday airlifted to Rangreth Gurdwara, from where they will be airlifted to their homes
• The remaining 130 stranded sportspersons are likely to be rescued by the Army on Thursday

‘Bobby’ & ‘Blazer’ help find bodies in Reasi

• While the Army, Indian Air Force, National Disaster Response Force and the police are grappling with the situation caused by the floods, ‘Blazer’ and ‘Bobby’ are also busy helping troops find dead and alive, buried under mudslides
• Blazer and Bobby, the Great Swiss Mountain dogs, helped their handlers locate two bodies buried under a mudslide in Reasi district on Tuesday

Ambika Soni to visit J&K today

• Congress general secretary and in charge of J&K Ambika Soni will visit the flood-hit areas on Thursday and will carry relief material for the affected population. The party did not say whether Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi would also visit the state
  
  
  

World’s largest copter Mi-26 joins rescue ops

• The IAF on Wednesday employed the world’s largest helicopter, Mi-26, for the flood relief operations in J&K, with the first sortie from Chandigarh to Awantipora.

Flood in poll-bound Vadodara hits 4 lakh; CM reviews situation
Manas Dasgupta

AHMEDABAD, September 10
The situation in the poll-bound Vadodara city and district in central Gujarat worsened today with waters of swollen Vishwamitri River inundating new areas and affecting more than four lakh people in the city.

While the road transport was badly hit with the main station of the state road transport corporation being under about waist-deep water, the rail communication was also partly affected as tracks in some parts of the district were under water. Those reaching Vadodara were stranded at the railway station as the areas outside the station were under water.

Animals from Sayajibagh Zoo, inside the Sayaji Garden, had to be shifted and the garden closed for public after the flood waters entered the garden last night. Authorities of Sir Sayajirao Gaekwad Hospital shifted critical patients to other hospitals.

All communication between the two parts of the city divided by the river has got snapped as all three bridges on the river were closed down after water started flowing above them.

The Army was called out to assist in distributing food packets to the affected, while the NDRF and fire brigade teams were deployed for the rescue operations. Authorities breathed a sigh of relief after all gates of the Ajwa dam, that release water in the Vishwamitri river, were closed at 5.30 am today with the water level reaching 213.80 feet, just below the danger level of 214 feet. In the event of further rainfall in its catchment areas, as the weather experts predicted, the dam gates would have to be reopened causing further trouble to Vadodara city.

The river, however, was still flowing at 37 feet, above its danger level of 26 feet. State cabinet spokesman Nitin Patel said more than 11,000 people had been shifted to safer places in the city, while the air force personnel had been engaged to drop food packets to those stranded in inundated localities. CM Anandiben Patel visited Vadodara and met senior officials to discuss rescue operations.

Polling for the Vadodara Lok Sabha and nine state Assembly by-elections are scheduled to be held on September 13 for which the campaigning will close tomorrow.

‘J&K will neither starve nor fall short of supplies’
Paswan assures full cooperation to the state govt
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, September 10
Food and Public Distribution Minister Ram Vilas Paswan today assured that the Centre would not let the flood-hit Jammu and Kashmir suffer from any shortage of foodgrain and other essential supplies.

The minister said the state government would receive full cooperation from the Centre. “The state government can take as much grain as it wants on credit,” he said. They could take additional foodgrains to operate langaars (community kitchens), he added.

Meanwhile, Paswan also assured that floods and drought in the country would not affect the prices of the essential food items in the days to come. “We have sufficient stocks. There will be no shortage or increase in the prices of essential food items, including grain, fruits and vegetables,” he said.

While many parts of the country are reeling under excess rains, some subdivisions — which include Punjab and Haryana, Chandigarh and Delhi — continue to fall under the category of rain deficient. 

‘Prices won’t rise’

• Union minister Ram Vilas Paswan said that floods and drought in the country would not affect the prices of the essential food items in the days to come
• He said the country had sufficient stocks and J&K could take as much grain as it wanted on credit
• He said J&K could take additional foodgrains to operate langars (community kitchens)

Govt restores fuel supply to Jammu region

New Delhi, September 10
The Petroleum Ministry today said it was taking several measures to ensure the availability of essential petroleum products in Jammu and Kashmir.

It said the availability of fuel, including petrol, diesel and LPG, had been brought to near normal in the Jammu division and efforts were on to ensure adequate supply in Srinagar.

There is an adequate stock of petrol, diesel, kerosene and ATF in the depots of oil marketing companies in Srinagar which will be immediately moved to the retail outlets once the roads become motorable, the ministry’s statement said.

The statement said the LPG plant of HPCL was inundated with water. Alternative arrangements were being made for bottling LPG cylinders in Srinagar, it added. — TNS

Floods a reminder of climate change impact
Vibha Sharma
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, September 10
Environmentalists have termed the Jammu and Kashmir disaster as a “grim reminder of increasing impact of climate change in India” and warned of more such extreme rainfall events in the years to come.

Pointing towards the recent extreme events to impact the country — Uttarakhand flash floods (2013), Leh cloudburst (2010) and Mumbai floods (2005) — to substantiate their argument, they are now asking the government to “accept” the reality portrayed by climate change models and start planning accordingly.

And as was the case with some of the previous extreme rainfall events, the scale of disaster in Jammu and Kashmir has also been exacerbated by unplanned development, especially on the riverbanks, they add.

Director general of Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) Sunita Narain today urged the government to “discard its ostrich-like policy and get out of the denial mode”.

“We will have to see the linkages between climate change and the events such as those unfolding in J&K. We will have to accept that climate change is going to affect us more and more in the future. We will, therefore, have to start preparing to adapt to the changing climate,” she said.

Narain said India should start internalising climate change adaptation in all developmental policies and programme. “From building of cities infrastructure to agriculture and from water supply to energy infrastructure, we will have to make changes to incorporate climate change impacts,” she added.

According to environmental group, most climate models predict that India will be hit more and more by extreme rainfall events as the world continues to warm in the coming decade and the J&K event could very well be “another manifestation of an extreme weather event induced by a changing climate”.

A study by B N Goswami of Pune-based Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology talks of increase in heavy and very heavy rainfall events in India over the past 50-60 years. 

Monsoon not changing pattern: Expert

• D Sivananda Pai, head of the Pune-based Long Range Forecasting Division of the IMD, disagrees with the observation that the Indian monsoon system might be changing pattern due to reasons such as climate change
• He says the monsoon pattern has not changed, but humans have started monitoring it more closely.

Himachal-Haryana-Punjab power dispute
Work out amount to be paid to HP, apex court tells AG
R Sedhuraman
Legal Correspondent

New Delhi, September 10
Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi today agreed to intervene in the dispute among Himachal Pradesh, Punjab and Haryana over the compensation to be paid to the hill state for the short supply of electricity from Bhakra and Beas projects since 1996.

A Supreme Court Bench comprising Justices Ranjana Desai and NV Ramana asked Rohatgi to work out the actual amount due to Himachal Pradesh after going through the claims of each state and the four methods suggested by the Centre for the calculation. “You decide the formula to be applied for calculating the compensation,” the Bench told the AG. “I will do that,” Rohatgi said in response and sought four weeks’ time for the purpose.

Appearing for Himachal Pradesh, senior counsels AK Ganguly and JS Attri made it clear that the state government was not willing to accept any of the formulas mooted by the Centre. The state stood to lose a great deal if it accepted any of the Centre’s suggestions, they pleaded. Haryana sought the adjournment of the hearing for a longer period in view of the coming Assembly elections. At this, the Bench slated the next hearing for November 24.

Under the first suggestion made by the Centre, Punjab and Haryana should pay a compensation of Rs 1,497.39 crore to HP against the hill state’s claim of Rs 4,249 crore. Alternatively, Punjab and Haryana could compensate HP by allotting additional energy over a period of 30 years if they had any difficulty in making cash payment, the Centre has had.

The Centre has calculated the compensation on a directive issued by the SC in its September 27, 2011 judgment in HP’s original suit filed in 1996 seeking higher share of electricity from these power projects. The Centre’s calculation has also been rejected by Punjab and Haryana which said it was Himachal which owed them Rs 1,611.88 crore, representing its share in the construction cost of these projects, funds for which were raised by them through loans on interest.

In the verdict, the SC substantially raised HP’s share of electricity from the Bhakra Nangal hydropower project with retrospective effect from 1966 and from the date of commissioning of Units I and II of Beas. 

Hill state against Centre's formulas

• Appearing for Himachal, senior counsels AK Ganguly and JS Attri pleaded to the court that the state government was not willing to accept the formulas mooted by the Centre, as it stood to lose a great deal
• Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi Rohatgi sought four weeks to work out the actual amount due to Himachal Pradesh after going through the claims of each state

Cong, BJP slam Telangana CM for ‘bury the media’ remark 

Hyderabad, September 10
Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao today drew flak from rival parties over his remark that he would “bury” the media “10km under the earth” if it “insults” his state even as journalists protesting against the blocking of two TV news channels were taken into preventive custody outside Raj Bhawan.

While the Opposition BJP condemned the “undemocratic” language used by Rao at a function yesterday in Warangal, the Congress said the Chief Minister had no clue about governance and reminded him of the duty to safeguard media freedom.

However, Rao’s daughter and Telangana Rashtra Samithi MP K Kavita said the Chief Minister’s comments about the media should not be seen in isolation as the TV channels, which have been blocked, were “demeaning the legislative system of Telangana”.

“In Warangal yesterday, he (Rao) used undemocratic language. No CM can use this type of language. The BJP condemns KCR’s statement. There is democracy and a system in this country. Nobody can take law and order into their hands. KCR is threatening the media, he is attacking mediapersons,” Telangana BJP president G Kishan Reddy told reporters.

“If anybody tries to denigrate or hurt the self-respect of Telangana, the Telangana Assembly, Telangana culture... we will break their necks. Be careful. Beware or else we will bury you 10km (under the earth),” KCR had said. — PTI 

Kerala hotels move SC against closure of bars

New Delhi, September 10
Several Kerala hotels today approached the Supreme Court challenging the state government’s order for closing down over 700 bars from tonight as the first step towards enforcing total prohibition over 10 years.

The hotels contended that they had taken bookings from tourists several months ago and as such the government’s sudden decision last month to bring down the shutters of the bars would hit them hard. A SC Bench agreed to hear their plea tomorrow. — TNS