Focus on reconstruction, rehabilitation – After Flood

Now that elections are already over, the focus should shift on disaster management activities. The worst disaster caused by unprecedented rains and floods in the state’s history has caused immeasurable damage and human sufferings. The winter has compounded the problems of the people more particularly those from the marginalised sections who were hit by the floods. The state on the other hand is in dire need of resources to undertake mammoth reconstruction and rehabilitation process besides restoring bruised businesses.
While a general view is that such disasters come once in a century, the memories should not be so short lived as to lose focus on the need for urgent strategies and farsighted action plans for minimizing the impact of such probable disasters in future.
The disaster caused in Ladakh region due to cloud bursts few years back and a cloud burst of low severity in Kokernag just 2 month ago did happen within the state itself. What is worrying is that out of 14 natural disasters of severe nature in last 23 years in India, three occurred in Jammu and Kashmir since 2005.
The disaster management structure at the state level undisputedly was missing on performance on all fronts while responding to the September 2014, deluge.
The preparedness for redeeming and managing  the horrible impact of any possible recurrence of  disaster of a high magnitude in near future has to be therefore treated as an exigency.
It is important to have a unified and coordinated command structure of administrative and engineering departments as part of disaster management act with a definitive standard operating procedure in place.
The technical and adversarial support of known international and national service providers is also an urgent need of the hour.
The new political governance structure that would be in place would need to pursue the remedial plans on a war footing. This should be a priority agenda to save the state from any such impact severity in disasters particularly caused by floods and cloud bursts. This will additionally act as a comfort and confidence factor to locals as well as tourist fraternity both domestic and international.
However, the agenda of the reconstruction, rehabilitation & business revival remains a gigantic task ahead, both on physical as well as on financial front. The funding of this multi pronged revival and rehabilitation act by and large is concentrated on some critically important possible sources of financial support. These largely emerge as the important pillars for pursuing this agenda besides ensuring tourism protection and private sector jobs from possible attrition.
An immediate review is now overdue to have first hand information on status of processing and likely decision on the state government’s proposal of Rs 44000 crore. Besides, the review should cover the progress under possible funding through Corporate Social Responsibility, status report of lending by banks under revival and rehabilitation schemes and exploring possibilities of seeking an interest subvention or a onetime debt waiver for damaged businesses, farm lands, fruits etc.
Government should also explore possibilities of seeking reasonable income tax exemption for all flood affected families and business units at least for 2013-14 financial year. This can enable affected people to channelize such possible resources (tax savings)  in rebuilding process.
All stakeholders need to religiously channelize their efforts and energies to seek solutions based on aforesaid possible support windows with scope for looking into additional possibilities. That will be a real service to the bruised society in this crisis situation. The combined financial structures as emerging above could be a real post-disaster management acts, while ensuring  reach to the last affected family. This is possible by way of passing of reconstruction compensation directly through bank accounts of eligible affected families.
The people in Kashmir have suffered so much that they cannot be left to fend for themselves. India being a welfare state which fact is reinforced by Part-IV of its constitution, the central government needs to favourably consider the Rs 44,000 crore proposal of the state. The release of the money by the centre would help the state to tackle with its post-floods problems.

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