Need to consult experts for risk mitigation, says JK CM pointing to recent calamities in Himalayas

Chasoti (JK): Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Saturday expressed concern over the recent natural calamities in the Union Territory, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand and called for consultation with experts to see what can be done to "mitigate the risks and dangers".

Talking to reporters near Chasoti on his return to this cloudburst-hit remote village in Kishtwar district, he said the entire Himalayan belt is now more prone to glacial lake bursts and cloudbursts.

He was responding to a question about possibility of forming a team of experts by his government to safeguard the fragile ecosystem in Jammu and Kashmir.

“We are going to have a look at it. It is not just what is happening in J-K. Look at the scary videos that we saw from Uttarakhand. What is happening in Himachal? We are all now, I think, prone to these glacial lake bursts and cloudbursts. To this freak vague weather, we will have to collectively and individually consult experts to see what we can do to mitigate the risks and the dangers of these things,” Abdullah said.

Around 60 persons were killed and over 100 others injured when a massive cloudburst triggered flash floods hit Chisoti, the last motorable village en route to the Machail Mata temple in Kishtwar district, on Thursday afternoon.

Over 80 persons are also reported missing by their family members following the cloudburst.

Asked whether his government will regulate pilgrimages in the mountainous regions, he said that earlier these yatras were restricted to small groups of pilgrims ranging between 100 and 400 but now thousands of people are visiting.

“Obviously, after seeing the changing patterns of the weather, we will have to think about a little more regulation, registration, etc. But if I make an announcement today, then it will be a mistake on my part because people's religious emotions are also involved in this," he said.

“We have to consult the religious leader, the people who are associated with these local pilgrimages, and take some steps,” Abdullah said.

He said though around 80 person were reported missing in the flash floods triggered by cloudburst, it is not the final number.

“Some people might have no mobile coverage or stopped halfway due to the circumstances (cloudburst). So do not take it (missing figures) as the final number. It will keep changing from time to time,” the CM said.

He said the flash floods brought down big rocks and “where we are standing used to be a river (bank). This was not a lake. It is a river, which has changed into a lake after the recent cloudburst. Some people washed away by the flash flood cannot be ruled out and our efforts are to find them and retrieve their bodies so that these could be handed over to their families".