Restive valley increases worries for Government

Worries for the Centre have increased, as people in Jammu and Kashmir are getting restive for not being rescued or getting relief on a faster pace and scale.

Union home ministry sources said in some places the situation, like in Khaniyar, Batmaloo and some more areas of downtown and some places in civil lines in Srinagar, turned volatile after NDRF rescue teams reached there to rescue but had to face stone pelting.

In some places, the people snatched away the boats as they wanted to be rescued first and reach safer places, the official added.

"It will take at least a week to restore some semblance of normalcy in the Valley if it does not rain again. Our biggest problem is that the state government machinery is nowhere to be seen and the relief work cannot be accomplished easily without it," said a senior home ministry official conceding that the ministry is worried of the fall out of delay in rescue operations.

The BSNL teams reached Srinagar and some other marooned areas with equipment where communication got totally cut off but they could not restore communication for want of local officials, the officials added.

The ministry is apprehensive of the restive mood finding manifestation in anti-government sentiment that may allow the militant outfits to leverage and find support among people once again.

The home ministry has asked Army and NDRF and other agencies to make a list of all the people who are being rescued and put the information on J&K government website to let the people known about the effort put in by the government. The government claims that over 47,000 people have been rescued by it so far.

At least 49 locations in Srinagar remain completely marooned while 11 localities have been described as most critical for which NDRF has launched rescue operations through 25 boats.

A senior NDRF said they could not launch their boats in many areas as Jhelum remained critical on Tuesday. NDRF airlifted 6 boats and launched operations in Badami Bagh area that houses Army cantonment.

One NDRF team launched operations towards countryside with 50 personnel and 5 boats. Four rescue boats have been launched in Pulwama and 3 in Awantipura, official said.

With this the NDRF has pushed a total of 148 boats for rescue operations. "We are airlifting 1500 tents from Ghaziabad. Situation remains critical in Srinagar," said DG, NDRF O P Singh.