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Governor  Satya  Pal Malik presented a frightening picture about the corruption in Jammu andKashmir on July 21 . His litany of corruption cases and the men and womeninvolved were lost in his radical suggestion to the militants  how to do away with the corrupt in the state.The import of his remarks was under swept by the controversy that his remarkstriggered , but there is one glaring truth that cannot be ignored any cost.

The harrowing  memoryof the 2014 floods that had devastated Srinagar city and parts of the Valley isstill fresh in the minds of the victims, but the corrective steps have not beentaken and Kashmir can be face to face with floods any time .  There is no guarantee that the feared floodswould be less devastating than the nightmare of five years  ago. This is the scene because the men whowere supposed to do all this were preoccupied with their self-interests and astruggle to win the political battles than focusing on the priorities that  would make Kashmir safe and secure from thenatural disasters .

   

Governor mentioned three things that he ordered should bedone  on the day he took over as head ofthe state – that time the state was under Governor’s rule and he had all theexecutive and legislative powers – ( 1) the dredging of  Jhelum river and  increasing the depth of Wullar lake so thatthere was no push back of the waters into the river that had flooded Srinagarin 2014, ( ii) construction of a flood channel to divert the waters from theriver in the times of heavy rains ( 3) de-weeding and cleansing of Dal lake .

At the end of one year, he had nothing but regrets to offer, as he said ” I have not succeeded doing anything on these fronts.” Why? Heasked and answered himself, because the corruption was at its peak and thebureaucrats would not allow the tenders to be floated as long as they wereoccupying the high chairs. This  caused alot of frustration and he could not contain himself from giving vent to hisfrustration and anger.

The point to be noted here is that the Governor Malik is nota state subject. He is from Uttar Pradesh and sent for an assignment inJ&K. If he was talking of saving the summer capital city of Srinagar andother arts of the Valley from the recurrence of the floods of the 2014magnitude, he was talking about the local population .And, when his orders werenot complied with, this was a breach of discipline  by the bureaucrats who were having their owninterests to further in stalling anti-flood measures. It would not havebenefited him , but the people who were facing the threat of the floods. Thatpoint was ignored.

The September , 2014 is a date etched in the minds of the people in Kashmir when they cameface to face with doomsday. It was a doomsday scenario with the waters floodingeverything, with intense search for the near and dear ones getting frustratedin absence of the requisite facilities and equipment . The city could not besaved .Fire fighting had to be done, and it was done. The youth of Kashmirlived up to their reputation of taking risks to save the lives of many who weremarooned and had lost hope . They toiled day and  night, rescued hundreds of the people  and assisted them in the best possible manner. The Indian army and Air Force  werealso there to rescue the people  who weretrapped in the worst affected areas in Srinagar city and elsewhere in theValley. The government had collapsed , as had the telecommunication system.There was nothing that could be done, but the resolve also was missing .

Surprisingly, there were political expediencies and the PDPmounted pressure on the GoI and Election Commission to hold the Assembly polls.The argument was that the continuation of the National Conference governmentwould neglect the flood victims . The Election Commission made its own assessment and declared the elections muchagainst the logic of the government that the people were busy in retrieving andreconstructing their lives, hence the polls be deferred. The ElectionCommission of the day worked the way  itdid and polls were held – the consequence that there was a fractured mandateand the political parties could not form the government for more than two monthsafter the results were declared . And when the government was formed thepriority was given to the political oneupmanship and the flood victimscontinued to suffer.

It calls for a white paper as to why the flood protectionworks could not be undertaken in the past five years and how much money hasbeen spent on papers .

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