Avtar Bhat
SRINAGAR, Sept 16: As flash floods have created a havoc bringing entire normal life to a grinding halt in Kashmir valley for last 10 days, the people are facing worst problems due to disruption in communication network, power supply and banking network.
All the nationalized banks, J&K Bank and other local banks especially in Srinagar city are non functional and their ATMs have gone dry with the result people are unable to withdraw money even needed in emergencies.
The Government should take steps on war footing basis to restore banking system as people are facing worst ever crisis in Kashmir, said Mir Ghulam Rasool patron People Welfare Society Ganderbal whose organization is running the relief camps for flood victims in the area.
He said the social organizations trying to help the flood victims are unable to purchase food material from the market as they have no cash to purchase the same. With ATMs non functional and banks closed where from the local NGOs can get the money to feed the flood hit people, he added.
He said people in other parts of Valley especially rural areas where the volunteer organizations have set up relief camps are also facing now it difficult to feed them as neither there is any support from the Government which has failed to provide ration in these relief camps nor these social organizations are in a position to purchase the same from market without money.
However the main problem in running the ATMs is lack of networking. The J&K Bank has started restoration of Banks in the Kashmir Valley and as per an official spokesman out of 380 branches 250 branches have been restored in Valley by today. The ATMs of the Bank have also started functioning in various parts of Valley, the spokesman added.
He said even in outskirts of Srinagar like Chanapora, Air Port side the ATMs of the Bank have been made functional, adding the remaining branches will also be restored by Monday as work is going on war footing basis.
The main hurdle in running the ATMs is failure of networking system and now the bank has installed V Sets to restore the ATMs in affected areas, he said.
However the ATMs of State Bank of India (SBI) have not started functioning yet in Capital City and other parts of Valley. A spokesman of the Bank said that main cause of non functioning of the SBI and its ATMs is damage in BSNL lease line to which entire banking system is linked.
He said the Bank could have operated in dry areas like Soura, Ganderbal and other parts but due to damage in BSNL lease line it can’t operate in those areas also.
However the SBI branches in some parts of North Kashmir like Karnah, Palhalan Pattan, Achabal, Vetergam and Handwara have started functioning, he added.
He said the Bank has now shifted V Sets to Kashmir Valley for running the mobile ATMs to restore the banking system in Valley. The Mobile ATMs will also be shifted to Kashmir within days via Kishtwar- Kokernag route as the National Highway is closed, he added.
The spokesman said the senior officers are rushing to Kashmir Valley to review the situation and resume the banking system there as early as possible. Some AGMs are already camping there, he added.
The power failure, water scarcity and food scarcity are other problems adding to woes of people in flood hit Kashmir Valley, said Mehta Ahmed a social activist.
He said the authorities have failed to restore power and water supply in the Valley and State administration is totally defunct with people looking only towards Centre for help.
He said the scarcity of ration at Government depots is adding to problems of people as most of the CAPD depots are without ration. Though in some areas of Valley like Anantnag the Government supplied free ration to flood hit areas since yesterday but in those parts of Valley which are dry people face food scarcity as the CAPD depots are without ration, said Ahmed.
He said the store keepers of ration depots say that with banks not functioning properly they are unable to lift ration without depositing cash.
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