Kishtwar cloudburst : Omar Abdullah visits cloudburst-hit Chishoti village, announces relief measures

CHief government minister Omar Abdullah on sabbatum visited the cloudburst-hit Chishoti hamlet in Kishtwar to use up first-hand stock up of the devastation caused by the massive calamity, which has left 61 dead, over 100 injured and several missing.Upon his arrival, he was briefed by Army personnel and used a virtual reality headset to assess the scale of destruction.Omar, who reached Kishtwar via the Sinthan Pass on Friday evening, travelled by road to the affected village early Saturday morning.Expressing sorrow over the loss of lives and widespread damage, he assured the people that the government stands firmly with them in this hour of grief.As a measure of solidarity and immediate relief, he announced ex gratia assistance from the chief minister’s relief fund.He said the families of those who lost their lives would receive financial support of ₹2 lakh each, while those who sustained severe injuries would be given ₹1 lakh and those with minor injuries ₹50,000. Similarly, for structural damages, he announced ₹1 lakh for fully damaged houses, ₹50,000 for severely damaged ones, and ₹25,000 for partially damaged structures.He also issued directions for the immediate restoration of essential infrastructure in the affected areas. During the visit, Abdullah met the bereaved families and those affected by the tragedy, prayed for the departed souls, and assured the people that his government will extend not only immediate assistance but also long-term rehabilitation to help them rebuild their lives.The CM, however, had to face the angry kin of the victims at Chishoti.They protested against the slow pace of search operations and complained that VVIP visits were hampering search operations.“Sir, we don’t want anything from you… Just give us the bodies of our family members because we can’t take them back alive,” a youth, Happy Singh from Jammu, told Omar.“Sir, you listen to us, don’t tell your (story). When you came here the two JCBs started working. However, when ministers and MLAs visit here, they first stop these JCBs because they have to give interviews and get clicked by photographers,” he said when Omar tried to pacify him.“My mother, her sister and another woman have been missing since August 14,” he said.He added that only five bodies were found since cloudburst hit the area on August 14. The CM assured to speed up the searches.Earlier during the day, a group of over a dozen men led by the same youth confronted BJP MLA and LOP in legislative assembly, Sunil Sharma, for visiting Chishoti village.“We don’t need you here… we will vote for the BJP but please don’t come here. Your visits are hampering searches,” he said.Another man also expressed his anger to Sharma.“We have been here for the past three days looking for our family members. Let the army and police do their job. You please stay away from here. We don’t want anything from you,” he said.Similarly, few women also aired their resentment against Union minister Dr Jitendra Singh.“He visited Chishoti around midnight but didn’t meet us,” said a few women.Dr Jitendra reached Chishoti late at night to take stock of the situation.A senior police officer, supervising the search operations, admitted that the VVIP visits hampered search operations.“The visit by ministers, MLAs and politicians are indeed hampering search operations. The anger among the kin of the missing pilgrims is justified. However, the hilly terrain and around 10 to 15 feet debris containing big boulders, trees, slush and flattened houses are making search operations difficult,” he said.The officer further said that being a congested area pummeled by a devastating cloudburst, only a couple of JCBs can work there.“It’s roughly two square km area but the terrain makes it impractical to deploy more JCBs. On Friday, a third JCB was deployed and it got stuck,” he added.The chances of any survivors now appear very grim and if there’s anyone, we could pull out alive, that would be a miracle, he said.Former CM and president of the Jammu & Kashmir Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Mehbooba Mufti, has cancelled her proposed visit to Paddar, Kishtwar, in view of the ongoing rescue and relief operations.There has been strong resentment among locals that VIP visits were hampering the rescue work, as the administration’s attention and energy were being diverted. Respecting these concerns, Mufti has conveyed that the immediate priority of the administration must remain on providing relief to the affected villagers and stranded pilgrims, besides ensuring every possible effort is made to trace the missing persons.She has also expressed solidarity with the victims and their families, assuring that the party stands by them in this hour of grief.Multiple teams of SDRF, NDRF, police, army and paramilitary forces have been deployed in the relief and rescue operations.The injured largely belonged to Jammu, Kishtwar, Samba and two from Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh.Need to consult experts for risk mitigation: OmarOmar also expressed concern over the recent natural calamities in the UT, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand and called for consultation with experts to see what can be done to “mitigate the risks and dangers”.“The entire Himalayan belt is now more prone to glacial lake bursts and cloudbursts,” he said while responding about the 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 J&K. 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 deal with this freak 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,” he said.Asked whether his government will regulate pilgrimages in the mountainous regions, he said that 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 leaders, the people who are associated with these local pilgrimages, and take some steps,” said the CM.He said though around 80 people 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.”Omar has said that after his government gets over with the rescue, relief and rehabilitation operations, he would order a probe and enquire into the reasons responsible for such a tragedy.The chief minister had clearly pointed out to weather alerts and advisories issued by the met department and allied agencies about heavy to very heavy rainfall.A senior police officer said, “While this pilgrimage has never been regulated by the administration like Amarnath and Vaishno Devi yatras, the SDM, Padder, failed to take cognisance of weather alerts and advisories.”“During inclement weather forecasts, the administration stopped Amarnath and Vaishno Devi yatras but why the Padder SDM didn’t take any cognisance of weather alerts vis-a-vis Chandi Mata Yatra in Machail, in eco-fragile Himalayas where cloudbursts are frequent during monsoon,” he saidJ&K LG Manoj Sinha has also announced to reconstruct damaged houses at Chishoti“Spoke to Senior Officials and took stock of the rescue and relief operations at Chishoti, Kishtwar. I will ensure the reconstruction of homes damaged in flash floods. I’ve also directed the senior officials for immediate relief & uninterrupted essential supplies to the affected,” he wrote on X.8 of Jammu family missingEven after 54 hours of the cloudburst in Chishoti village of Kishtwar, several pilgrims remain missing causing distress among their kin.One such kin, Vijay Kumar of Bainagarh in RS Pura sector of Jammu district, has appealed to the administration to help him find eight members of his family.“We left for Mata Machail Yatra on August 12. We were a group of 17 members. While nine survived the calamity, eight members are still missing,” he said.Kumar informed that his mother, sister, her two children, his sister-in-law, her two children and one more relative remain missing.“We have no clue about them. Their mobile phones are constantly switched off. All the four children among eight members are minors aged 6, 8, 9 and 15 years,” he said.Nine members of the group had crossed the nullah and remaining eight were trailing them when cloudburst hit the area on the fateful day.“I appeal to the administration to find them,” he added.“I’ve lost everything… my mother, my sister, her children…,” he said.A pall of gloom has also descended on Bainagarh village with relatives and villagers visiting Kumar.