Neeraj Rohmetra
JAMMU, Oct 10: Worst fears of authorities about the on-going relief measures being extended to flood-affected areas seem to be coming true! The five member panel, which had been given mandate by the Supreme Court to ascertain the efficacy of the relief operations in the State, has discovered major discrepancies between the claims of the State Government and the situation on ground.
Perturbed over the exposure by panel, the only nominee of the State Government – Secretary Revenue, Relief and Rehabilitation has refused to sign its Interim Report. With the result, the report pertaining to the status of the distribution of relief material and functioning of Government machinery, which has been submitted to the Supreme Court today, has signatures of only remaining four members. These include the Convenor-Suresh Kumar, Registrar General High Court, President Bar Association of Kashmir, Mian Abdul Qayoom and President Bar Association Jammu, M K Bhardwaj and a nominee of the Central Government.
Reliable sources in Revenue Department told EXCELSIOR, “yesterday afternoon the Relief Commissioner, Vinod Kaul had approached the Convenor of the Committee, with a request to seek adjournment from the Apex Court for 15 days on the plea that there was need to visit more flood-affected areas of State. However, the same was rejected by the Convenor on the ground that it was only an Interim Report and there was no need to visit all the flood-affected areas. Further, the Report had to the placed before the Supreme Court, which is monitoring the relief operations in the State”.
Sources said, “the Relief Department was worried over the fact that the interim report had brought to surface serious discrepancies in the on-going relief operations in Kashmir and Jammu region and this would invite the wrath of the Supreme Court”, adding, “therefore, the officials of the Revenue Ministry deliberately chose not to sign the report”.
The Committee constituted on the orders of Supreme Court had visited districts of Kulgam, Pulwama, Anantnag, Srinagar in Kashmir region and Udhampur, Rajouri and Poonch in Jammu region and took stock of the measures taken for the flood affected people.
The members of the Committee visited scores of worst affected villages of these areas and had inspected the affected areas, assessed the ground realities and saw the present prevailing condition there. They interacted with the large number of affected people, who apprised the Committee members about their woes, plight and sufferings.
Sharing their experiences, members of the Committee on condition of anonymity said, “there were several instances in Kashmir, where relief material were being diverted to areas on political considerations and even to places, which were least affected by the natural calamity that rocked the State last month”, adding, “while in other places like Shiv Pura, Indira Nagar, Raj Bagh in Srinagar city, the relief had failed to reach the affected persons”.
“Several influential Ministers have made sure that relief was doled out to their political activists in Srinagar and were showing little concern for removing the sufferings of the people. Belying claims of authorities, complains about distribution of free ration among the flood-hit people had been pouring in from several areas”, sources added.
“Even in Jammu region, situation was no different and there were several instances, wherein the required relief measures were not visible on ground, when the SC appointed panel members visited those areas”, sources asserted adding, “a clear example is the case of Saddal Mohalla, situated on a hill top in Pancheri that vanished in landslides on the ill-fated day, leading to death of 40 persons”.
“During interaction with the residents of Saddal Mohalla, it came to fore that unlike claims of State agencies, they hadn’t received sufficient relief. While Revenue authorities claimed to have provided 35-50 Kg ration per family during September and October, the affected persons contradicted the claims and stated they had received only meagre ration of 4-5 Kg per family”.
Sources said, “the Revenue authorities after consultation with higher-ups had decided to seek adjournment from the Apex Court, on the plea of not having visited several of the flood-affected areas. However, the panel was given mandate to visit only certain areas for on spot assessment of the on-going relief operations and it wasn’t practically possible to cover the entire State”.
The copy of the Interim Report of the panel has been placed before the Supreme Court Bench headed by Chief Justice H L Dattu, where the case was listed today and the State High Court authorities.
It is pertinent to mention here that reports about manipulation of figures of floods affected families has also come to the fore from the Reasi district, which has forced the top brass of the civil administration to seek immediate review of data to avoid criticism from the opposition parties.The figures about the floods affected families were reportedly fudged on the political pressure from the ruling coalition partners in order to make use of the free ration to lure the voters during the forthcoming Assembly elections in the State.
Follow our WhatsApp channel