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05 SRINAGAR | March 20, 2015, Friday Greater Kashmir Amid Government silence, flood victims bank on hearsay M HYDERI Srinagar, Mar 19: As if leaving flood- victims to struggle for loss assessment or relief was not enough, the state gov- ernment has even allegedly failed to inform the people on whom to approach and how with regard to registration of their grievances since September-2014 deluge. Six months on, in the absence of requisite information system thou- sands of sufferers of this summer capi- tal have been banking on nothing but hearsay. While Srinagar remained worst-dev- astated with loss even more than the aggregate of damage in other dis- tricts, the administra- tive concern looks least towards this City. Despite massive public outcry, the administration has failed to inform the flood-victims about the procedure they need to follow for assessment or reas- sessment, where and how? This City tops the devastation with over 87,000 residential houses and equally big number of commercial establishments damaged. The state gov- ernment however has made 69% of the damaged houses eligible for least relief, a development which has left the people up in arms over alleged discrimination. THE ISSUES Does flood-victim need to file a “Modi Form”, or submit some appli- cation on plain paper for government response? And which official be con- tacted? As per the people, nothing is clear yet. Another peculiar problem con- fronted by Srinagarites is that there was no large scale public awareness on the cre- ation of New Adminis- trative Units. What was expected to take public grievance redressal to their doorsteps, the creation of NAUs left administrative affairs even mess- ier. Many flood-hit Srinagarites say they are confused over which unit they belong to. Since floods devastated her home, Tabasum of Raj Bagh is running from one office to another to know address of the NAU she falls in. “Despite approaching all the seven Tehsils offic- es, none has been able to clarify which zone I belong to,” she says. All this has left her wait to get any relief cheque and building permission for reconstruction of damaged house. Land officials admit that in the absence of proper awareness the people were facing inconvenience in getting access to the concerned administrative offices. Till last year Srinagar was divided into two zones – the Tehsil offices –headed by Tehsildar South City and Tehsildar North. With the creation of NAUs, the City has been divided into seven Tehsils sub divided into 17 Nayabats. PATWARI ISSUE The victims say they are often asked to visit the concerned Patwari. But the general allegation is that the Patwaris play hide-and-seek with the victims as they are rarely available for public meet- ings in their respective offices. “There’s even no clear signage of their offices as most of them operate from residential houses, difficult to locate,” said some vic- tims. Even though the district adminis- tration made it mandatory for the Pat- waris to be present at their respective offices from 10:30 AM to 1:00 PM for public meetings, people said the order was not publicized. DDC SPEAKS District Development Commis- sioner Farooq Ahmed Lone said ini- tially only those whose houses have fully-damaged were required to submit details for relief. “But now as other cat- egories (Partially and Severely) too are to get it(relief), proper format is being devised,” Lone said. He ensured that publicity would be made about the developments likely to benefit the flood victims. CSC CONCERNED In the alleged absence of any con- cern being shown by the mainstream political parties including Peoples Democratic Party and the National Conference, now other forums includ- ing the Kashmir Traders and Manu- facturers Federation (KTMF) have been highlighting the flood-victim woes. On March 8, when the KTMF President Muhammad Yasin Khan submitted memorandum before the Cabinet Sub Committee(CSC) seeking rehabilitation of the flood hit traders, the appeal made spe- cial mention of “injustice with Srinagarites over loss assessment which will fetch them least for being declared Partially Damaged.” The CSC said it was concerned. Its member and Minister for IT Molvi Imran Raza Ansari said all issues pertaining to relief and rehabilitation were being looked into. To a question on absence of public awareness on how victims should approach the government, he said: “This is a genuine concern and we’ll look into it on priority.” (To be con- cluded) SRINAGAR VICTIMS LEFT TO FEND Though Srinagar remained worst-hit by floods, Govt till now didn’t even publicize how victims should approach it for grievance redressal Thousands of sufferers have been leſt to bank on hearsay which ranges from filing of “Modi Form” to “reassessment through Patwari” While majority of Srinagarites are unconvinced with loss assess- ment, their cries go unheard given the ambiguity on whom to contact (SOURCE SRINAGARITES) PART - V Rangreth road in shambles SYED RIZWAN GEELANI Srinagar, Mar 19: Even as weather improved, the roads in some parts of City are still inun- dated pushing people to incon- venience. The road from Sanat Nagar to Rangreth is inundated thereby hampering smooth flow of traffic. “We are not able to drive properly on this road as it is very difficult to ascertain about potholes in stagnant waters,” said Ali Muhammad, a shop- keeper in Rawal Pora. The Roads and Buildings (R&B) department passed the buck on other departments saying the ongoing drainage work being executed by Eco- nomic Reconstruction Agency has delayed road repairs. “We are aware about the issue and we are looking for immediate steps to repair the roads,” said Chief Engineer R&B depart- ment, Satish Razdan, adding that blocked drains have caused inundation of the area. He accused the ERA of failing in timely clearance of the muck from dug up roads. “The inclement weather was also a reason which stopped us to take up the work on the roads,” he said, adding “We’re hopeful to start the work on all the dilapidated roads within days.” Meanwhile, Project Man- ager ERA, Basharat Ahmad said the drainage work was going on the brim of the road and it had not affected work of other departments. “We are working outside the hard crust,” he said. He however said direc- tions were given to the field workers to clear the muck of the drains without any delay. “I have asked the workers to keep a vehicle on spot to carry the muck and clear the roads regularly,” he added. Matriculation exam: Students allege late distribution of paper ALI IMRAN Srinagar, Mar 19: Stu- dents appearing in matric- ulation examination at Centre No 8108, Iqbal Memorial Institute (Boys), Bemina, Thursday alleged late distribution of answer books. “We were allowed to enter the examination hall at 1 p.m. and distrib- uted answer books at 1.20 p.m. The supervisory staff assured us that we would be given extra time of 20 minutes to compensate the time lost due to late entry. But at exact 4 p.m. they asked us to hand over the answer books. When we asked them about the prom- ised extra time, they snatched the answer books from all of us,” a group of aggrieved examinees told Greater Kash- mir, adding they could not attempt all the questions due paucity of time. Meanwhile students whose examination centre was at Muslim Public School Kursoo Raj Bagh echoed simi- lar complaints. “We received our paper 15 minutes late and were given no extra time because of which we missed to appear in all questions,” they said. Joint Secretary JK Board of School Education said the complaints would be seri- ously looked into. Sarmad Hafeez takes over as LAWDA VC Zakura appeals PDD Srinagar, Mar 19: The residents of Shah Anway Colony Lane 4 Zakura have appealed the Power Development Department to revamp power transmis- sion network in the area. The locals said the trans- mission cables often snap thereby risking life and prop- erty of the people. “Just yes- terday a major tragedy was averted when the power cable snapped,” the locals said. CAPITAL HAPPENINGS Police-Public meetings held Locals discuss traffic jamming, drug addiction, bad roads Srinagar, Mar 19: Sarmad Hafeez on Thursday took over as Vice- Chairman of the Lakes and Waterways Development Authority (LAWDA). On the occasion, he chaired a meeting of LAWDA officials and underscored the need for conservation of lake Dal. “We have to take con- servation of Dal as a mission and work with dedication and honesty to restore its glory. My priority is removal of encroachments and restoration of aesthetic beauty of the lake,” Sarmad told the officials. Before joining LAWDA, Sarmad has served as Deputy Commissioner Ganderbal, Kup- wara and Additional District Development Commissioner Sri- nagar. He has had experience in Kashmir’s tourism sector serv- ing it at various posts including Joint Director Tourism. Srinagar, Mar 19: In a bid to improve relations with general public, District Police Srinagar organised police-public meetings in Shaheed Gunj and Karan Nagar localities of south City. “Large number of respect- able, traders and Mohalla com- mittee members held detailed discussions on various public issues with police. The meetings were chaired by SP South S Patil. The participants highlighted vari- ous public issues including traf- fic jamming, drug addiction and bad road conditions etc,” a police handout said. The SP South assured the par- ticipants that strict action will be taken against the drug peddlers. He also assured that issues pertaining to other departments will be taken up with the concerned agencies. The meetings were attended by SDPO Imran Farooq, Ahish Kumar Mishra IPS, SHO Shaheed Gunj Nissar Ahmad and SHO Karan Nagar Parvaiz Ahmad. Aadhar: SMC establishes 6 biometric centers Srinagar, Mar 19: For regis- tration of the much-awaited Aadhar cards in the City Sri- nagar Municipal Corporation has initiated “capturing bio- metrics data of heads of the households”, an official hand- out Thursday said. “For Biometric process, six permanent Adhaar centers have been established in four zones of the City ie East, North West and South Zone,” it said. “The permanent cen- tre’s for ward 1 to 9 falling in east zone has been set up at ward office SK Park where the machines has been put to operation for capturing bio- metrics and Municipal building Tibetan quarters Eidgah,” SMC handout said. “Also the permanent centre has been established at facili- tation centre Elahi Bagh for the residents falling between ward 10 to 17, where fifty per- sons has been registered in the first instance. Similarly the community hall Chotta Bazaar has been set up for biometrics in west zone covering wards 18 to 26.” MUBASHIR KHAN/GK twitter.com/GreaterKashmir_ facebook.com/DailyGreaterKashmir epaper.GreaterKashmir.com Readers can email their write-ups to City Page for Colony Woes, We the Srinagarites and other columns. [email protected] DISCLAIMER: Views expressed in We The Srinagarites column are author’s own C TY
Transcript of Readers can email their write-ups to City Page for Colony...
05SRINAGAR | March 20, 2015, FridayGreater Kashmir
Amid Government silence, flood victims bank on hearsay
M HYDERI
Srinagar, Mar 19: As if leaving flood-victims to struggle for loss assessment or relief was not enough, the state gov-ernment has even allegedly failed to inform the people on whom to approach and how with regard to registration of their grievances since September-2014 deluge. Six months on, in the absence of requisite information system thou-sands of sufferers of this summer capi-tal have been banking on nothing but hearsay. While Srinagar remained worst-dev-astated with loss even more than the aggregate of damage in other dis-tricts, the administra-tive concern looks least towards this City. Despite massive public outcry, the administration has failed to inform the flood-victims about the procedure they need to follow for assessment or reas-sessment, where and how? This City tops the devastation with over 87,000 residential houses and equally big number of commercial establishments damaged. The state gov-
ernment however has made 69% of the damaged houses eligible for least relief, a development which has left the people up in arms over alleged discrimination.
THE ISSUES Does flood-victim need to file a “Modi Form”, or submit some appli-cation on plain paper for government response? And which official be con-tacted? As per the people, nothing is clear yet. Another peculiar problem con-fronted by Srinagarites is that there
was no large scale public awareness on the cre-ation of New Adminis-trative Units. What was expected to take public grievance redressal to
their doorsteps, the creation of NAUs left administrative affairs even mess-ier. Many flood-hit Srinagarites say they are confused over which unit they belong to. Since floods devastated her home, Tabasum of Raj Bagh is running from one office to another to know address of the NAU she falls in. “Despite approaching all the seven Tehsils offic-
es, none has been able to clarify which zone I belong to,” she says. All this has left her wait to get any relief cheque and building permission for reconstruction of damaged house. Land officials admit that in the absence of proper awareness the people were facing inconvenience in getting access to the concerned administrative offices.
Till last year Srinagar was divided into two zones – the Tehsil offices –headed by Tehsildar South City and Tehsildar North. With the creation of NAUs, the City has been divided into seven Tehsils sub divided into 17 Nayabats.
PATWARI ISSUE The victims say they are often asked to visit the concerned Patwari. But the
general allegation is that the Patwaris play hide-and-seek with the victims as they are rarely available for public meet-ings in their respective offices. “There’s even no clear signage of their offices as most of them operate from residential houses, difficult to locate,” said some vic-tims. Even though the district adminis-tration made it mandatory for the Pat-waris to be present at their respective offices from 10:30 AM to 1:00 PM for public meetings, people said the order was not publicized.
DDC SPEAKS District Development Commis-sioner Farooq Ahmed Lone said ini-tially only those whose houses have fully-damaged were required to submit details for relief. “But now as other cat-egories (Partially and Severely) too are to get it(relief), proper format is being devised,” Lone said. He ensured that publicity would be made about the developments likely to benefit the flood victims.
CSC CONCERNED In the alleged absence of any con-
cern being shown by the mainstream political parties including Peoples Democratic Party and the National Conference, now other forums includ-ing the Kashmir Traders and Manu-facturers Federation (KTMF) have been highlighting the flood-victim woes. On March 8, when the KTMF President Muhammad Yasin Khan submitted memorandum before the Cabinet Sub Committee(CSC) seeking rehabilitation of the flood hit traders, the appeal made spe-cial mention of “injustice with Srinagarites over loss assessment which will fetch them least for being declared Partially Damaged.” The CSC said it was concerned. Its member and Minister for IT Molvi Imran Raza Ansari said all issues pertaining to relief and rehabilitation were being looked into. To a question on absence of public awareness on how victims should approach the government, he said: “This is a genuine concern and we’ll look into it on priority.” (To be con-cluded)
SRINAGAR VICTIMS LEFT TO FEND Though Srinagar remained worst-hit by floods, Govt till now didn’t
even publicize how victims should approach it for grievance redressal
Thousands of sufferers have been left to bank on hearsay which ranges from filing of “Modi Form” to “reassessment through Patwari”
While majority of Srinagarites are unconvinced with loss assess-ment, their cries go unheard given the ambiguity on whom to contact
(SOURCE SRINAGARITES)
PART - V
Rangreth road in shambles SYED RIZWAN GEELANI
Srinagar, Mar 19: Even as weather improved, the roads in some parts of City are still inun-dated pushing people to incon-venience. The road from Sanat Nagar to Rangreth is inundated thereby hampering smooth flow of traffic. “We are not able to drive properly on this road as it is very difficult to ascertain about potholes in stagnant waters,” said Ali Muhammad, a shop-keeper in Rawal Pora. The Roads and Buildings (R&B) department passed the buck on other departments saying the ongoing drainage work being executed by Eco-nomic Reconstruction Agency has delayed road repairs. “We are aware about the issue and we are looking for immediate steps to repair the roads,” said Chief Engineer R&B depart-ment, Satish Razdan, adding
that blocked drains have caused inundation of the area. He accused the ERA of failing in timely clearance of the muck from dug up roads. “The inclement weather was also a reason which stopped us to take up the work on the roads,” he said, adding “We’re hopeful to start the work on all the dilapidated roads within days.” Meanwhile, Project Man-ager ERA, Basharat Ahmad
said the drainage work was going on the brim of the road and it had not affected work of other departments. “We are working outside the hard crust,” he said. He however said direc-tions were given to the field workers to clear the muck of the drains without any delay. “I have asked the workers to keep a vehicle on spot to carry the muck and clear the roads regularly,” he added.
Matriculation exam: Students allege late distribution of paper
ALI IMRAN
Srinagar, Mar 19: Stu-dents appearing in matric-ulation examination at Centre No 8108, Iqbal Memorial Institute (Boys), Bemina, Thursday alleged late distribution of answer books. “We were allowed to enter the examination hall at 1 p.m. and distrib-uted answer books at 1.20 p.m. The supervisory staff assured us that we would be given extra time of 20 minutes to compensate the time lost due to late entry. But at exact 4 p.m.
they asked us to hand over the answer books. When we asked them about the prom-ised extra time, they snatched the answer books from all of us,” a group of aggrieved examinees told Greater Kash-mir, adding they could not attempt all the questions due paucity of time. Meanwhile students whose examination centre
was at Muslim Public School Kursoo Raj Bagh echoed simi-lar complaints. “We received our paper 15 minutes late and were given no extra time because of which we missed to appear in all questions,” they said. Joint Secretary JK Board of School Education said the complaints would be seri-ously looked into.
Sarmad Hafeez takes over as LAWDA VC
Zakura appeals PDDSrinagar, Mar 19: The residents of Shah Anway Colony Lane 4 Zakura have appealed the Power Development Department to revamp power transmis-sion network in the area. The locals said the trans-mission cables often snap thereby risking life and prop-erty of the people. “Just yes-terday a major tragedy was averted when the power cable snapped,” the locals said.
CAPITALHAPPENINGS
Police-Public meetings held
Locals discuss traffic jamming, drug addiction, bad roads
Srinagar, Mar 19: Sarmad Hafeez on Thursday took over as Vice-Chairman of the Lakes and W a t e r w a y s Development
Authority (LAWDA). On the occasion, he chaired a meeting of LAWDA officials and underscored the need for conservation of lake Dal. “We have to take con-servation of Dal as a mission
and work with dedication and honesty to restore its glory. My priority is removal of encroachments and restoration of aesthetic beauty of the lake,” Sarmad told the officials. Before joining LAWDA, Sarmad has served as Deputy Commissioner Ganderbal, Kup-wara and Additional District Development Commissioner Sri-nagar. He has had experience in Kashmir’s tourism sector serv-ing it at various posts including Joint Director Tourism.
Srinagar, Mar 19: In a bid to improve relations with general public, District Police Srinagar organised police-public meetings in Shaheed Gunj and Karan Nagar localities of south City. “Large number of respect-able, traders and Mohalla com-mittee members held detailed discussions on various public issues with police. The meetings were chaired by SP South S Patil. The participants highlighted vari-ous public issues including traf-
fic jamming, drug addiction and bad road conditions etc,” a police handout said. The SP South assured the par-ticipants that strict action will be taken against the drug peddlers. He also assured that issues pertaining to other departments will be taken up with the concerned agencies. The meetings were attended by SDPO Imran Farooq, Ahish Kumar Mishra IPS, SHO Shaheed Gunj Nissar Ahmad and SHO Karan Nagar Parvaiz Ahmad.
Aadhar: SMC establishes 6 biometric centersSrinagar, Mar 19: For regis-tration of the much-awaited Aadhar cards in the City Sri-nagar Municipal Corporation has initiated “capturing bio-metrics data of heads of the households”, an official hand-out Thursday said. “For Biometric process, six permanent Adhaar centers have been established in four zones
of the City ie East, North West and South Zone,” it said. “ T h e p e r m a n e n t ce n -tre’s for ward 1 to 9 falling in east zone has been set up at ward office SK Park where the machines has been put to operation for capturing bio-metrics and Municipal building Tibetan quarters Eidgah,” SMC handout said.
“Also the permanent centre has been established at facili-tation centre Elahi Bagh for the residents falling between ward 10 to 17, where fifty per-sons has been registered in the first instance. Similarly the community hall Chotta Bazaar has been set up for biometrics in west zone covering wards 18 to 26.”
MUBASHIR KHAN/GK
twitter.com/GreaterKashmir_facebook.com/DailyGreaterKashmirepaper.GreaterKashmir.com
Readers can email their write-ups to City Page for Colony Woes, We the Srinagarites and other columns.
DISCLAIMER: Views expressed in We The Srinagarites column are author’s ownC TY
