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Business News/ Politics / Policy/  J&K floods: Army launches evacuation, relief aid dispatched
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J&K floods: Army launches evacuation, relief aid dispatched

Most of Srinagar remains under water as bad communication lines slow rescue and relief work

A flood-affected family after being rescued by the Indian Air Force in Jammu and Kashmir. Photo: PTIPremium
A flood-affected family after being rescued by the Indian Air Force in Jammu and Kashmir. Photo: PTI

New Delhi: Army soldiers and navy and air force personnel were engaged in a massive rescue and relief operation in Jammu and Kashmir on Monday after floods triggered by fierce monsoon rains killed at least 200 people and submerged hundreds of villages in the northern state.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who surveyed flood-battered parts of the state, declared it a national calamity.

Rescue personnel backed by helicopters and boats had evacuated around 23,530 people from flooded areas of the state, delivered relief supplies and were attempting to restore communication links in the Himalayan region.

“The Indian Army will not move back to the barracks till the last man is brought to safety," army chief Dalbir Singh Suhag said.

Some 150 tonnes of food rations, 100,000 ready-to-eat meals, 400,000 litres of packaged milk, 100 boats, 3,000 tents, 50,000 litres of drinking water and 10,000 blankets were being airlifted, according to the army.

Officials put the death toll in the calamity at at least 200. Hundreds of villages have been submerged in the deadliest flooding in the state in over half a century, snapping road links and cutting off many areas. The army cantonment, civil secretariat and the high court in Srinagar were also inundated.

The defence ministry said navy marines had rescued 200 people stranded on the Srinagar-Sopore highway. Rescue teams were rushed to Pachori village in Udhampur district where a landslide was reported.

Sixteen relief camps have been set up in different parts of the state and 1,245 stranded people have been airlifted to safety by the Indian Air Force helicopters and transport aircraft. Altogether, 52 aircraft and helicopters have been pressed into action.

“Today, the engineer task force is being rushed from New Delhi to the flood-affected areas to supplement the rescue operation. They will carry boats and life-saving equipment. The situation is being continuously monitored and progress of the events are updated at the office...in New Delhi," the defence ministry said in a statement.

On Monday, all three major hospitals in Srinagar—Shri Maharaja Hari Singh Hospital, Lal Ded Maternity Hospital and GB Pant Children’s Hospital—were cut off because roads leading to the facilities had been flooded.

Communications were lost on Sunday when the rain-swollen Jhelum river flooded large parts of Srinagar.

According to officials in the state health department, there is a severe shortage of antibiotic drugs, anti-diarrheal drugs and other essential life-saving drugs.

“Our current concern is just to get necessary medical supplies and access the patients. We cannot worry about water-borne disease right now," said an official in the state health department. “That usually starts only when water is receding and mosquitos start breeding in stagnant water. We are already prepared for that as well, arranging for enough chlorine tablets and bleaching powder to ensure decent water quality."

Hydropower generation has been hit in the state. State-owned NHPC Ltd’s projects including Salal, Uri-I and II had been shut down because of high silt levels in the water.

“While Uri-I and II had been closed on 5 September, they are operational now. We are trying to restart operations at Salal project. Our other projects remained unaffected," said an NHPC executive requesting anonymity.

Of the 4,857 megawatts (MW) generated by NHPC, around 2,000MW is generated from the state. NHPC supplies 820MW to Jammu and Kashmir. NHPC, which operates seven power stations in the state, is also constructing another project there. It is also constructing three projects totalling 2,100MW in the state in joint ventures with Jammu and Kashmir’s power development department.

Flights continued to operate as per schedule. Air India Ltd said no flights had been cancelled and plenty of seats were available.

“People are not being able to reach the airport. The latest we have been told from Srinagar this evening is that water has started receding, so we expect to see people coming tomorrow," an Air India official said.

K.B. Jandial, a member of the Jammu and Kashmir public service commission who returned to Delhi from Srinagar on Saturday, said the roads leading to the airports had been flooded.

“It was difficult to reach the airport," Jandial said, adding that several of his close friends had taken refuge on rooftops and no help was in sight.

Director general of civil aviation Prabhat Kumar has issued instructions that regulations mandating full refunds to passengers hit by natural calamities such as floods be enforced.

Bharti Airtel Ltd said the floods had resulted in major damage to telecom infrastructure and had badly affected the telecom networks of all operators including itself.

Prime Minister Modi and home minister Rajnath Singh surveyed the flood-affected areas and met chief minister Omar Abdullah with assurances of help. Modi has already announced a relief package of 1,000 crore to Jammu and Kashmir.

Modi also offered help for people living in areas of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir that have been hit by floods.

The floods come ahead of elections due in Kashmir, where the 87-member state assembly’s term expires on 19 January. A section of the Congress party is of the view that if the flood situation worsens, the elections should be delayed.

Mint’s Elizabeth Roche, Utpal Bhaskar, Gyan Varma, Anuja and Vidya Krishnan, AFP, Reuters and PTI contributed to this story.

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Published: 08 Sep 2014, 12:30 PM IST
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