Flood-affected residents being rescued by the Army in Srinagar.
With rain having stopped, armed forces and the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) have managed to rescue at least one lakh 30 thousand people from flood-ravaged Jammu and Kashmir, Home Minister Rajnath Singh said today. The Supreme Court has asked the Centre to submit a report on Monday about the rescue, relief and rehabilitation operation for the lakhs who are still stranded in state that is battling its worst floods in over a century. Over 200 people have died.
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The Supreme Court has asked Centre to consider forming a unified agency for coordinating rescue operations in the state. The Attorney General told the court that a committee headed by the Prime Minister is already overseeing rescue efforts.
Receding water in many areas is now beginning to reveal the real extent of the devastation. "Srinagar has drowned completely, it's unrecognisable. Almost everything is in ruins, it is just unimaginable," a State Disaster Response Force official said.
The Jammu-Srinagar National Highway remained closed for the ninth consecutive day today due to landslides and sinking of road at various places. However, educational institutions in Jammu, except those serving as relief camps for flood-affected people, reopened after almost a week today. In flood-ravaged Srinagar, water has receded but there is still substantive flooding in certain areas.
With flood water receding, many of those stranded are reluctant to leave their homes. Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has said rescue operations have hence been "re-oriented" to help those people. Focus has now shifted to supplying relief material to those stranded.
Efforts are on to ensure essential commodities like water and food reach those stranded at the earliest. So far 2,24,000 litres of water, 31,500 food packets and over 375 tonnes cooked food have been airdropped and distributed in the flood-affected areas, an official statement said.
Restoring communication and connectivity in the state remains a big focus area - BSNL phones began working on Wednesday. The Border Roads Organisation is working relentlessly to restore road links.
The Indian Army has deployed around 30,000 troops for rescue and relief operations - 21,000 in Srinagar region and 9,000 in Jammu region.
The Indian Air Force yesterday scaled back rescue operations that involve winching up stranded people into helicopters, after angry residents pelted stones at their choppers in several areas of flood-hit Srinagar.
"Our assessment is that crowds are being provoked," said Lieutenant General Subrata Saha, General Officer Commanding the 15 Corps. He also added that soldiers working to rescue the thousands of people who still remain stranded in Srinagar have been asked to remain "very calm" if they are pelted with stones by angry crowds, a senior army officer told NDTV today.
Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah has said that his government, accused by the people of his state of being short on assistance in a crisis, "couldn't respond in the first 24 hours as we didn't have a government...Many of my ministers I've only been able to meet after six days."
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