Parliament panel’s J&K visit cancelled over bad weather

A long planned visit of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs — the first since April 22 Pahalgam terror attack — to Jammu and Kashmir stands cancelled in the wake of inclement weather conditions.

The Committee, chaired by BJP’s Radha Mohan Das Agarwal, a Rajya Sabha MP, was to leave for Jammu and Kashmir on Sunday and hold a range of key assessments and meetings between September 1 and 5.

Ironically, the first engagement of the committee was to be a ground assessment of disaster preparedness at Mata Vaishno Devi shrine — the very site which was hit by a major tragedy triggered by heavy rains and a landslide earlier this week. The disaster near Ardh Kuwari en route to the shrine near Jammu’s Trikuta Hills killed over 30 people.

Parliamentary sources said the panel was also scheduled to visit the CRPF camp in Kashmir and assess the working conditions there.

A visit to tourist hotspot Gulmarg and spot assessment of the security situation there was also on the agenda.

“The Gulmarg visit was planned in order to see if the safety net for tourists was in place. This was to be the first visit of the panel to Jammu and Kashmir after the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack followed by Operation Sindoor,” said a source.

It is further learnt that the committee was also to interact with the personnel of Jammu and Kashmir Police to understand their working conditions and challenges.

A source said meetings had been planned with leaders of all important administrative segments in J&K besides a visit to Sonmarg.

Asked if the visit had been cancelled, sources said it had been deferred for the time being due to inputs about inclement weather conditions and was likely to be rescheduled for later.

The committee’s visit was seen as crucial in the wake of Pahalgam attack, Army’s response in the form of Operation Sindoor and eventually Operation Mahadev that killed the perpetrators of the Pahalgam carnage.