Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi is very concerned about the recent cloudburst in a remote village in Jammu and Kashmir's Kishtwar district, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said on Sunday after meeting some of the victims undergoing treatment at the Government Medical College Hospital.
Expressing satisfaction over the treatment of the injured, Rajnath Singh said his plan to visit the cloudburst-hit area could not materialise due to inclement weather and a fresh landslide on the road en route. Union Minister and Udhampur MP Jitendra Singh and J-K Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha accompanied Rajnath during the visit.
He was briefed by a team of doctors on the condition of the patients.
In a brief conversation with the media before leaving the hospital for Raj Bhavan, Rajnath Singh said, “The prime minister is very concerned and is monitoring the situation. I had planned to visit the spot but couldn't due to inclement weather and a landslide (at Pathernaki)… We are now going to the Raj Bhavan, where we will talk to the (affected) people through videoconferencing."
The cloudburst struck Chisoti, the last motorable village en route to the Machail Mata temple, on August 14, killing 65 people and injuring over 100. Thirty-two people missing since are yet to be found.
Meanwhile, at least 45 students of the Indian Institute of Integrative Medicine (IIIM) were evacuated to safety in a joint operation by the State Disaster Response Force and police after floodwaters submerged the ground floor of the hostel complex here on Sunday, officials said.
State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) and police deployed manpower equipped with boats to reach out the students after more than seven feet of water from the overflowing canal entered their hostel buildings this morning, the officials said.
They said the rescue operation continued for more than five hours and all the trapped students were evacuated to safety.
Director IIIM, an autonomous body under the Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR), Dr Zabeer Ahmed said the institute has made arrangements for the safe stay of the students.
“We have enough alternative arrangements to provide accommodation to students,” he said, adding as the floodwaters started collecting in the ground floor, the institute mobilised all resources, including dewatering pumps for the safety of the students.
S R Choudhary, one of the students, said their colleagues putting up in the ground floor suffered losses due to the flash floods.
“My room is located on the top floor but those in the ground floor immediately shifted to upstairs, leaving behind their belongings,” he said, adding they waited for at least five hours for getting shifted out of the submerged buildings.
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