Srinagar, Apr 30: Jammu and Kashmir National Conference Vice President Omar Abdullah on Tuesday toured the flash flood-affected areas of north Kashmir’s Kupwara district.
Joined by the party’s Provincial President Nasir Aslam Wani Sogami, senior leaders Choudhary Mohammad Ramzaan, Mir Saifullah, Javed Dar and local party unit functionaries of District Kupwara, Omar Abdullah visited the flood-affected areas at Cello in Sopore, Chogal and Kulangam in Handwara and a number of other hamlets in Sopore and Kupwara.
Demanding adequate relief for the flood affected Omar said they should get adequate compensation to recover their losses.
Recalling the horrid memories of the 2014 deluge, the NC leader he has not forgotten the devastating impact the flood of 2014 incurred on people. “However, the administration hasn’t learnt lessons from it,” he said.
Abdullah expressed concern over the “unpreparedness” of the administration in dealing with such an eventuality, saying he was “surprised” that the administration had been sleeping since 2014 feeling that such a situation would not arise in the future.
Underling the aim of his visit to the flood-affected Kupwara, Omar said, “I visited the affected people to know their pain and to assess the ground situation. Due to non-stop rainfall in the last few days, in many areas, a deluge has arrived. There are reports that water has entered several residences causing loss to people. Seeing the worsening situation in many regions, I halted my campaign, spoke to my associates and decided to arrive here to take stock of the situation. A comprehensive flood management programme is required to be prepared for this region. It won’t happen overnight, but it needs to be done and we will do so.”
