STATE TIMES NEWS
JAMMU: Jammu on Wednesday paid heavy price of blocking common channels of water in the form of losing two precious lives of minor school going girls and another in a house collapse in Rajouri after it witnessed season’s heaviest rainfall in a short span of time.
The normal life was also crippled across the region with almost all the district head quarters and major towns reporting heavy down pour during the day.
Till the time of filing the report, the water levels in the main rivers including Chenab and Tawi was rising constantly but was well below the danger mark of 35 ft at 29 ft. The water level in Tawi was hovering between 13 and 14 feet well below the danger level of 17 feet.
According to eye witnesses, “dressed up in their uniforms, two girls were heading towards their school building in Janipur when they were caught in flash floods in a densely populated street of Ward No 36 represented by state BJP Chief Sat Pal Sharma”.
“A group of three girls were moving together when one of them gave way to a car and lost her balance before landing in an over flooded drain. Due to strong currents the three girls were stuck in the drain and one of them was dragged out by the locals but two others washed away in gushing current in front of their eyes. The bodies of both the girls were fished out of the nullah by locals after lot of hardwork but it was too late”.
The girls identified as Meenakshi and Sakshi Sharma could not survive the rain fury.
A pall of gloom descended their homes in the area as none had expected fatal end of their children, especially when they had send them to the school in routine.
Even as the gushing Nallah water came menacingly, the panic-stricken children got trapped in fast currents. In one of the brave acts, four children and driver of School Van, trapped in flash floods were rescued by Suresh Gupta of Sharmrock Public School and his son Abhishek Kalsotra.
Meanwhile, to apply healing touch to the grieving families, local BJP MLA and State BJP Chief Sat Pal Sharma visited their homes and also announced an exgratia of Rs 4 lakh to the next of kin of the deceased. Another civilian lost his life in Chingus area of Rajouri after his house collapsed.
According to Deputy Commissioner Jammu, Simrandeep Singh, “A total number of 83 structures were fully/partially damaged while several road links were washed away and infrastructure of Power Development Department, Rural Development Department suffered heavy losses. Actual loss of farmers due to flooding of paddy fields would be assessed at a later stage while large number of local residents suffered huge losses as water came gushing inside their houses damaging house hold items, electronic appliances and ration supplies etc”.
The Jammu-Srinagar National Highway was closed down for some time near Panthal but the road was cleared after some time without disrupting the traffic for long duration.
The helicopter services between the Katra base camp and holy cave shrine of Mata Vaishno Devi remained affected due to inclement weather conditions but the routine yatra went on smoothly with pilgrims facing some hardships due to high speed winds and shooting stones.
Overnight incessant rains in the higher hills across Jammu region created piquant situation for the government functionaries as they were seen struggling to cope up with the aspirations of demanding population. The weather department has predicted more rainfall for next 24 hours across the region.
The Jammu city witnessed chaos throughout the day as several residential areas were flooded with 4-5 ft deep water. Residential houses of senior cabinet ministers, including Minister for Health and Medical Education Bali Bhagat were flooded with rain water and fire brigade had to press water pumps to drain off water from the premises. Several low lying areas in Jammu and outskirts of Jammu witnessed rain fury leading to long traffic jams on busy roads. Water logged streets and main roads across Jammu once again exposed the preparedness of the Jammu Municipal Corporation as local residents accused them of ignoring the timely completion of desilting works of over encroached nullahs and open drains.
The residential areas of Nanaknagar, Preet Nagar, Digiana, Shastri Nagar, Talab Tiloo,Roop Nagar, Janipur, New Plot, Sarwal, Bisnah, RS Pura, Bhatindi, Channi Himmat, Channi Rama. Krishna Nagar, Canal Raod, Dogra Chowk,Jewel Chowk were worst affected due to rain fury. The Narwal by pass road also remained blocked as local residents staged protest demonstrations accusing the local authorities of not removing the encroachments.
Even the Government Medical college hospital faced piquant situation due to long power cuts and had to switch on to the alternate power back up to run its emergency and essential services. Various city areas, including Bakshi Nagar witnessed massive power breakdown.
Reports coming from different district headquarters claimed rain fury disturbed normal life and created havoc in hilly areas. Udhampur, Ramban,Reasi, Samba, Kathua, witnessed rain fury and disrupted normal life. Life of common citizens and supply lines were adversely affected due to washing away of portions of road links in rural pockets.PDD suffered heavy losses as poles and transformers came crashing down and uprooted due to high speed winds and torrential rains.
