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| NC-Cong playing politics over floods left victims in lurch | | Over ambitious Rs 44000 Cr proposal added to miseries of affected people | | Fazal Khan
ET Report
srinagar, Mar 4: The September 2014 floods which devastated Kashmir and left behind a trail of destruction served as the last nail in the coffin of the erstwhile National Conference-Congress regime as its leaders disappeared from the scene and left the people alone during the crisis.
Experts believe that Omar Abdullah led government "mishandled" the situation and tried to derive the political mileage out of the tragedy rather than putting in serious efforts to help and rehabilitate the flood victims. "Soon after the floods stuck all the ministers and bureaucrats went missing and there was no government on the ground for nearly a fortnight," said an expert.
The ousted Chief Minister appeared on TV during these days without realizing that Kashmiris whom he is addressing can't see him as all the power lines were snapped and floods had carried away most TV sets.
Experts believe that Omar rather than appearing on news channels should have focused on seeking help from other states and tried coordinating with the central agencies to get in boats and rescue teams. The specialized teams which were sent by other states to help the marooned people had to remain stranded on Srinagar airport as there was no one from the state administration to coordinate with them.
Reports about top ministers and bureaucrats taking refuge at Hari Niwas on the foothills of Zabarwan hills and enjoying Wazwan added to the resentment among the marooned people, who were caught in their inundated houses with no food and water.
The biggest failure of the Omar led regime was that it failed to sound a flood alert and didn't inform people about the catastrophe which was in the offing. People were shocked when they found water entering into their houses as they were caught unaware. "If bureaucrats and ministers could pull out their families why couldn't they pull the people out?" asked an expert.
Soon after the floods water receded, the state government set up various teams to assess the damages but these teams couldn't do much as they were directed by their political bosses to come up with a proposal fast. The proposals submitted by these teams had many loop holes which were later pointed out by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).
The initial compensation of Rs 75000/ which was sanctioned for the people whose houses had collapsed didn't reach the victims on time and the allegations about political workers being preferred over flood affected people were galore.
The overambitious Rs 44000 crore proposal for rehabilitation of the flood victims which was sent by the Omar led government to the centre was rejected by the Union Home Ministry as the people at the helm found too many flaws in it. The queries which were raised by the central government were not answered by the state government. Experts believe that rehabilitation proposal drafted by the Omar led government was politically motivated as the government sent a message out to flood affected that victims whose houses have collapsed would get nearly Rs 9 lakhs to reconstruct the structures if centre approves the proposal forwarded by the state government. NC leaders during election campaigning left no stone unturned to claim that BJP led central government has let them down as they tried their best to seek compensation for the flood victims. "Had the ousted NC-Cong regime worked on the rehabilitation proposal and had come up with a proper plan many people would have got benefitted. The erstwhile regime tried to play a parting short by projecting huge amounts as compensation for the flood victims, despite centre making it clear that it can provide relief and not aid. People at the helm were very much aware about this fact but in order to hoodwink the gullible voters it gave wrong projections. However, it didn't help either the cause of National Conference nor the Congress and they ended up losing the last assembly elections," the expert added. |
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