Exclusive: Our govt wasn't prepared to deal with floods like these, says Omar Abdullah

Following the devastating floods in the state, Jammu and Kashmir’s chief minister Omar Abdullah operates from the eighty room state guest house Hari Niwas on Gupkar Road in Srinagar, overlooking the Dal Lake. On Sunday, he spoke to Firstpost from his temporary office, which at the time of the interview had no electricity. Abdullah confessed that though his government was equipped to deal with average floods, it wasn’t remotely ready to deal with a disaster of the magnitude Jammu and Kashmir just witnessed.

Here are a few excerpts from the interview. 

Firstpost: What was your first reaction when the floods hit south Kashmir and Srinagar city?

Omar Abdullah: We had been monitoring the water level since the rains started on 1 September. People were issued a warning. When I came to know about the possibility of water entering Shivpora and Indra Nagar (parts of Srinagar) an alert was sounded. But to be honest with you, nothing prepared me or my government for what was coming. I only realised the extent of disaster when I landed in Srinagar from Jammu and saw the water level.

FP: How many people have died in the floods?

OA: I still don’t know how many people have actually died. As the water recedes, we hope that houses, buildings and other low lying areas don’t have more dead bodies.  What I have been made to understand by the Army, NDRF and local volunteers is that the casualties are lesser than what we had feared. We have confirmed 76 deaths since 1 September in Kashmir. The death toll in Jammu is 203.

FP: What is the extent of damage done to the infrastructure in the state? 

OA: It’s not possible to come up with a realistic assessment of the damage inflicted on the infrastructure yet simply because several parts of the state continue to remain inundated.  We have reports that 1,000 structures have been damaged partially but these are reports filed by the locals to the police. There will be a multi disciplinary team which will take stock of the situation. This team has already been constituted for south Kashmir.

FP: What will this Multi Disciplinary Team do?

OA: Their job is to asses the damage properly. They will give us the final figures in terms of actual number of houses totally or partially damaged. Damage to live stock, crop agriculture etc will also be included in the memorandum. We are going to submit the same to the government of India to give them a sense of the destruction.

FP: People in the state are angry and are accusing your government of doing nothing and being absent on ground…

OA: I think there was no delay in responding to the situation. We jumped into action with whatever resources we had at our disposal.  However, we were continuously hindered by the amount of water that flooded the state. Whatever resources the state government had were utilised promptly. It takes some time for the NDRF teams to be mobilised and be pressed into action. Additional helicopters were also pressed into service.

FP: Who should be credited for saving so many lives? 

OA: If the number of casualties is 76 in Kashmir, the credit doesn’t go to the security forces alone, it also goes to people of Kashmir and volunteers who risked their lives and saved others, despite the fact that they too were hit by the calamity.

FP: It has been fifteen days since the floods hit, even the heart of Srinagar city, Lal Chowk remains submerged in water. How long will it take to drain all the water out of entire Srinagar and south Kashmir?  

OA: Every effort is being made to drain water out as quickly as possible.  But there are some areas which are low lying making it difficult for us to drain water out, but we are still trying our best. If you travel around Srinagar now, you will find cuts made on road sides to drain the stagnant water back into Jehlum river. The flood water has already been drained from South Kashmir. I can’t give you an exact time by which all the water will be gone, but we are trying to get more pumps.

FP: But people are blocking roads and demonstrating on streets, they are asking for more pumps. They fear that their houses will collapse anytime?

OA: In four-five days we will get some more pumps from Punjab, Haryana and some other states. There are 80 to 90 pumps presently draining the water out from Srinagar city. Fire service, ERA and Srinagar municipality have pressed all the pumps they had into action. We have sought pumps form other parts of country. As soon as we receive them, we will deploy them immediately.

FP: Do you think corporate India did not respond to the calamity in Kashmir as as they do in other states of India during a disaster of this magnitude?

OA: I don’t think like that. There is a CII team from their north India chapter present here. I understand people are helping with relief efforts also. There are a number of NGOs that have gotten involved as well.

FP: Local volunteers who have been collecting donations from the rest of country have accused your government of blocking their supply to the airport?

OA: No, there is no blockade. The roads leading to the airport were chaotic. More so the Kashmir airport is a military one and is not available to everyone like other airports are, without extra formalities. There were some certificate issues too with some of these agencies. We haven’t blocked any supply.

FP: Is the state government’s secretariat functioning?

OA: We have a functioning secretariat despite water not receding completely yet. It would have been unfortunate and unfair on our part had we utilized all the pumps we had to drain the water out of the secretariat building first, when large swathes of the state were inundated. There is a possibility that we might shift to SKICC. Several departments have been already shifted to new places for some time.

FP: Many people have praised the Army’s effort to rescue the stranded people. Would you still demand the removal of AFSPA from Kashmir?

OA: AFPSA has nothing to do with flood relief the Army has done what it could do. There is a provision in the constitution which binds these forces with the responsibility of helping rescue operations during such calamities. The debate on AFSPA is different.

FP: What would you like Prime Minister Modi to do for Kashmir at this movement?

OA: We would like Prime Minister Modi to fulfill the promise he had made as we need to rebuild not only lives of people, but also the entire government infrastructure. Four of my biggest state hospitals were inundated. The water level had crosses the first floor in these hospitals. According to a conservative estimate, I have been told that the health department has suffered losses of Rs 150 to 200 crore.

FP: What has the central government’s response been to this?

OA: I will be sending a memorandum to the government of India. There have been other instances where people hit by natural calamities have been extended insurances, we would want something similar here. If they are not given insurance, they at least need to be provided with a generous business package to restart their enterprises, many of which are completely destroyed now. I also think, corporate India needs to chip in and step up their involvement. At least five to six cell phone companies are functioning in the state, but I can hardly make calls. Given that these private companies have struggled to restore their service says a lot about the magnitude of the disaster.

FP: There are carcasses of dead animals still floating in the city, what is the municipality doing?

OA: I think we have removed more than 350 animal carcasses in just three days. We have set up more than 60 medical campus and the Army is also supplementing these efforts with their own. Four major hospitals are still not completely functional, however, we have managed to treat as many patients as possible. Having said that, a lot needs to be done still.