House panel leaves without meeting flood-hit in Jammu

Arteev Sharma

Tribune News Service

Jammu, May 29

The Parliamentary Standing Committee (PSC) on Science & Technology, Environment and Forests today handed a raw deal to the flood victims of Jammu by wrapping up their five-day visit to the state without meeting the affected.

In Kashmir, the committee headed by Member of Parliament Ashwani Kumar had held such interactions with the flood-hit.

The panel had obtained a first-hand account of the miseries of flood-hit in Kashmir. However, it did not deem fit to meet the flood victims of the Jammu region.

Even the Governor of Reserve Bank of India (RBI), Raghuram Rajan, who was on a two-day visit to J&K, confined his itinerary to the Kashmir valley.

“We have not interacted with flood victims this time. We will be interacting with them on another occasion, but we interacted with 18 different non-governmental organisations (NGO) and civil society organisations in Jammu,” Kumar said after being asked about the reason for “ignoring” the flood victims in Jammu.

“We made special efforts to come to Jammu because we did not want the visit of J&K to remain incomplete. We may come again and hold interaction with them,” he said.

During September floods last year, nearly 250 persons had lost their lives in the Jammu region alone, while it suffered a loss of Rs 365 crore to the standing crops due to flash floods.

Nearly 13,000 hectares of agriculture land was washed away by the floods while 24 villages and habitations were declared unsafe for living due to floods and landslides.

“Unlike the victims in Kashmir, who only lost their houses and other belongings in floods, we lost everything including our land-holdings. Political leaders including ministers and government officials visited us but did nothing. Everyone is concerned about Kashmir,” said Panjar sarpanch Ramesh Singh.

Massive landslides, triggered by incessant rain, had swept the entire Saddal village in Panjar panchayat halqa of Udhampur district leaving at least 40 persons dead.

“The bodies of five people have not been retrieved from debris till date. Member of Parliament Jitendra Singh, who is also a Union Minister, had announced to adopt and develop the village as a smart village, but nothing has been done so far. Victims are forced to stay in shabby conditions as they don’t have houses to live. They are in utter need of a sympathetic approach of the government,” the village head said.

The PSC had begun its J&K visit on May 24 and it stayed in Kashmir for three days. The committee spent a full day in the Ladakh region and concluded its visit by holding discussions with senior officers, representatives of NGOs and civil society groups of Jammu today.

Saudhagar Singh, a resident of Channi Nanak hamlet in the Phallian Mandal area of Jammu district, said: “No compensation has been paid to the affected people till date. The Revenue and Agriculture Department official visited us and assessed the losses, but no action was taken thereafter.”

Similar views were shared by the flood victims in worst-affected twin border districts of Rajouri and Poonch.