Team of experts to identify areas at risk to prevent losses in future: Abdullah on Chisoti cloudburst

Srinagar, Aug 19 (PTI) Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Tuesday said there was little hope of finding any survivors from the Kishtwar cloudburst scene and a team of experts will be set up to find out the areas that are at most risk to prevent such tragedies in future.

"Kishtwar situation is before you. With every passing day, the hope for the survival of the 70 missing persons is fading away. Our focus will now be on retrieving the bodies and handing them to their families so that they can perform the final rites," Abdullah told reporters here.

He said his government will provide whatever help possible to the affected persons.

"Whatever help we have to provide, we will do as much as possible. They had put a few things before me when I was there, and we will consider it," the chief minister added.

He said Kishtwar did not happen due to a glacial lake burst but due to a cloudburst.

"We will have to set up a team of experts to find out the areas that are at most risk. A few months ago, we saw a similar incident at Ramban. That time we had a lot of material damage, but the loss of lives was less.

"This time the loss of lives is more as a yatra was going on and the cloudburst happened. We will have to get an expert view on how to prevent such incidents and if these happen, how to minimise the losses," he added.

Cloudburst struck Chisoti, the last motorable village en route to the Machail Mata temple, on August 14, triggering flash-floods that left a trail of destruction, flattening a makeshift market, a langar site for the annual Machail Mata yatra, and damaging several houses and government buildings. The death toll rose to 64 on Tuesday with the recovery of one more body. The victims included three CISF personnel and one Special Police Officer (SPO) of J&K police.

A total of 167 persons were rescued, while the number of missing persons has dropped to 39 after a fresh revision of the list on Monday.

Responding to a question, Abdullah said the INDIA bloc candidate should win the upcoming election for the Vice President.

"The election will take place. We do not understand why this election was imposed on us? VP Dhankar left so suddenly and he has not been seen since.

"I have had a chance to interact with him and I will pray for his good health. As far as the election is concerned, the INDIA bloc candidate should win," he said.

On the controversy around NCERT changing chapters about Partition, Abdullah said "fiddling with history" is wrong and there should be no politics in it.

"Fiddling with history, especially when done by politicians, is wrong. Tomorrow, the government will change. Today or tomorrow, it will change. No government is forever ... Let's presume there will be a government that is not of the BJP and it will start writing chapters against RSS. Then what will you do? "Then again, these chapters will be removed and new chapters will be inserted. As far as possible, it should be kept away from politics. Whatever our history is, let the students learn that. After that, let the kids decide what is right and what is wrong. It is a fact that the British sank our boat," Abdullah said.

"Was there not a demand for dividing India into two? Yes, there was a demand. Keep the facts. But you want to bring politics, that's wrong," he said.

On the opposition's criticism of his Independence speech about a signature campaign for the restoration of statehood, the chief minister said the job of the opposition was to oppose.

"They do not want statehood, they do not want us to go among people. Earlier, they were asking, 'Why are you not doing anything?' Now we want to meet people. Our job is to work (for the people), their job is to oppose," he added. PTI MIJ RT RT