Dinesh Kamath's Editorial 'Prevent J&K type of disaster' that was published in Newsband

Prevent J&K type of disaster

Jammu and Kashmir is slowly becoming normal after the disaster. The damage caused by the floods was too much.  People who had left that place are returning back.  

While looking at the challenges of relief and reconstruction that lie ahead, this is also the time to consider the lessons for the State from the extreme event. This has been a costly environmental wake-up call for Jammu and Kashmir — as it was for Uttarakhand a year ago. This is the time to learn how to balance ecosystem, about urban planning and maintaining drainage system of river.

Instead of criticising the government for the unpreparedness to face such sudden disaster, the centre of the focus should revolve around how to bounce back from such situation quickly. Livelihood which is primarily dependent on tourism & farming for most of the residents of J&K need to be addressed along while taking care of the spread of diseases to mark inclusive restoration among all. Also a panel need to be constituted immediately at state level (checked by centre too) to look for that major cause behind such disaster and how to curb such havoc in future which is still the major issue faced by not learning lesson from Uttarakhand a year ago.

Every year, India loses billions of money in natural disaster but does not take care of considering the environmental impact while approving the projects. There is a need to strike a balance between economic development and environment. Measures should be taken to restore ecological balance especially wetlands and clear the encroachments from Jhelum and Tawi river basin on a priority basis. Also, relief and reconstruction must be taken on a war-footing to restore the livelihood, farming and tourism sector to bring succor to the people.

Now is the time for the government of all states as well as the Centre to consider the issue very seriously. Industrialisation, urbanisation and deforestation are taking the country towards the hell.

All the state governments should take this as a serious issue as urbanization is increasing rapidly. Dwelling in the forest lands, digging bore wells, expanding the city extremely can cause major damages to the earth. Prevention is better than cure. We should discuss about the diversion of flood waters through channels to reduce the impact and the loss of life, properties, flora and fauna etc. This subject has been put in a corner for so many years. Flooding happens every year and we do not want to discuss ways to prevent the loss.

Nature shows its wrath in the form of such calamities. It is imperative for us to take a lesson from this sad incident. Man has been exploiting nature for its personal gains for a long time, the consequences are before us. Human intervention has been the major reason for the degradation of nature. We all must abstain from any such activity and create awareness regarding the same in our societies. Let us all vow not to tamper with nature and pray that peace and prosperity to return to our Kashmir.

However, as is the nature of all our governments, lot of noises are made while the disasters last and they are forgotten once things settle down. The recent example was of last year's Uttarakhand tragedy. Had some lessons been learnt from that horrible tragedy, perhaps the losses in J&K would have been much less.