J-K CM at cloudburst-hit village

Chasoti, Aug 16: The anger of people seeking information about their kin missing in the aftermath of a cloudburst is quite understandable, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said on Saturday after several locals confronted him in Chasoti and vented their frustration.

He said the focus of the rescue operation right now is to find those still trapped under the debris.

A coordinated rescue and relief operation is underway in the village where 70 to 80 people have been reported missing by their families, even as locals and witnesses claim that hundreds may have been swept away by the flash flood and buried under giant boulders, wooden logs, and rubble.

Abdullah reached the cloudburst-hit Chasoti, the last motorable village en route to the Machail Mata temple in the Kishtwar district, by car this morning and faced some people who were not happy with the rescue and relief efforts.

After being briefed by a senior Army officer and assessing the damage, the chief minister met several affected families on both sides of the stream, which is connected by a makeshift bridge made of logs.

Several hundred people vented their frustration in front of Abdullah, who tried to calm them down, saying he himself wants the rescue operation to be over as soon as possible.

The chief minister also invited them to a nearby tent to listen to their grievances, but some of them were reluctant. Following this, Abdullah left the scene.

“I can understand their anger. They have been waiting for their missing family members for the past two days. They want an answer. They want to know if their family members will come out alive or not,” he told reporters on his return journey.

The chief minister said the demand of the people is that if those missing are no longer alive, then the bodies should be handed over to them at the earliest for the last rites.

“We have deployed as many forces as we could, whether it is the NDRF, SDRF, Army, Jammu and Kashmir police or the CISF. We are trying to rescue the trapped people. And where there is no rescue, we will at least retrieve the bodies and hand them over to their families,” Abdullah said.

“At the moment, it is not really a relief operation. We are focusing on rescuing people as far as possible. After that, the aim would be to retrieve the bodies to the best extent possible.”

He said the death toll is around 60, while the number of missing people is between 70 and 80. “The number will fluctuate a little, but I do not think the number will reach 500 or 1,000 as is being projected. At the moment, it is 80, which is also a big number.”

The chief minister said immediate relief has been distributed to people whose homes have been partially or totally damaged.

“If I am not mistaken, about Rs 36 lakh that the deputy commissioner had at his disposal has already been distributed. I have spoken to the additional chief secretary in my office and instructed him to immediately release money from the chief minister’s relief fund so that it can be put at the disposal of the deputy commissioner,” he said.

Asked if there are plans to shift the affected families to safety, the chief minister said there is no plan, but such a demand was raised by some villagers.

“To shift or not to shift, in what conditions to shift, where to shift, for that, I think a team of experts should come and tell us. What if we pick them up from here and put them in a place where there will be more danger? Can we give them a place nearby where they can live and there is less danger? We will consider all these things,” he added.

Tragedy struck Chasoti around 12:25 pm on August 14, flattening a makeshift market, a community kitchen site for the pilgrimage, and a security outpost.

At least 16 houses and government buildings, three temples, four water mills, a 30-meter-long bridge, and over a dozen vehicles were also damaged in the flash flood.

The annual Machail Mata Yatra, which began on July 25 and was scheduled to conclude on September 5, remained suspended for the third consecutive day on Saturday. The 8.5-kilometre trek to the 9,500-foot-high shrine starts from Chasoti, around 90 kilometres from Kishtwar town.