Chief Minister, Mehbooba Mufti today directed immediate constitution of a unified control room to monitor the situation arising out of continued rains and snow in the Kashmir Valley for the past two days and take appropriate measures. She asked the divisional administration to gear up to meet any eventuality in view of the inclement weather.The Chief Minister reviewed the preparedness and the steps to be taken by the administration in view of the emerging situation of rains and water logging in many parts of Kashmir Valley at a meeting of officers here today. She directed that senior functionaries of the concerned Departments be deputed to the control room to respond to the emerging situations in a coordinated approach. She also directed chalking out contingency plans for the flood prone areas and make available nearby buildings in case of emergency evacuations.Mehbooba Mufti directed constitution of similar control rooms at the district levels also and asked the Divisional Commissioner, Kashmir to monitor the functioning of these control rooms and coordinate the rescue efforts in these districts. She directed close monitoring of rescue operations at all the spots in these districts which have a likelihood of embankment breach or water logging.
Mehbooba Mufti directed the engineers of Flood Control Department to deploy all their men and machinery for patrolling the banks of rivers and streams at the spots which have a history or likelihood of breaches. She specifically directed patrolling of spots which had breached during the floods of 2014.The Chief Minister was informed that 60 thousand sand bags have been readied by the Department at various locations in the city which, if need be, would be used for checking the breaches or overflowing of banks. She directed arranging of adequate number of boats and deploying them at critical places where people may need them for evacuation or for any help.The meeting was informed that weather is likely to improve from April 07 and already the rate of rising of water level in Jhelum has started to slow down.Mehbooba Mufti directed the SMC authorities to deploy all their dewatering machines at the inundation spots to drain off the waters and make the important city junctions free of any water logging at the quickest. She also asked the PDD authorities to make round the clock power supply available to these pumps.
The Chief Minister directed the Chief Engineer, R& B to ensure that major roads in the Valley remain trafficable and no road remains blocked due to any fallen tree or any other obstruction. She specifically directed clearing of all fallen trees and snow on Tangmarg-Gulmarg road by this evening so that the road communication to the world famous tourist spot remains open and tourists are not stranded there. She also directed clearing of Sangrama-Baramulla road by the evening which got blocked previous night due to continued downpour of past two days.On the status of Srinagar-Jammu National Highway, the Chief Minister directed the IGP Traffic to supervise the reopening of the road at the earliest and prioritize the clearing of stranded passengers on the road.The meeting was informed that the Fire & Emergency Services Department has deployed its 16 fire tenders and six dewatering pumps at 20 different locations in the Srinagar city for drainage and de watering purposes.In the healthcare sector, the Chief Minister was informed the city hospitals and SKIMS are ready to meet any eventuality and all the requisite and equipments are adequately stocked at these hospitals.Commander of Army’s 15th Corps, Lt. Gen. J S Sandhu; Divisional Commissioner, Kashmir, Baseer Ahmad Khan; Inspector General of Police, Kashmir zone, SJM Gillani; heads of several Departments and other officers were present in the meeting. (KNS)