SRINAGAR: Jammu and Kashmir’s five-time Chief Minister, Dr Farooq Abdullah has demanded a probe into the Amarnath cloudburst that has killed 16 people so far. The casualties took place in the flash floods caused by the cloudburst.
Dr Abdullah is reported to have said that the spot where tents were pitched and community kitchens were permitted to operate was never used for such kinds of activities.
“We are saddened by the tragedy. We hope LG Manoj Sinha will set up a commission on how it happened,” he told reporters in Srinagar.
Abdullah said that the area where the cloudburst hit is very ‘dangerous’ and tents and langars should not have been set up there. “It is for the first time (tents and langars were set up there). They used to be at Panjtarni. The government should probe it so that such things do not occur in the future,” Abdullah told reporters, according to local news gatherer, KNO.
In a party statement, Dr Farooq Abdullah and Omar Abdullah expressed deep shock and grief over the tragic deaths of pilgrims due to a cloudburst near the holy Shri Amarnath Ji Cave Shrine the other day.
“I feel distressed after receiving the tragic news about the loss of pilgrims’ lives in the cloudburst near Shri Amarnath Ji cave shrine. I express my heartfelt condolences to the bereaved families. I pray to the almighty to bestow patience and courage to the bereaved families who lost their near ones in this natural calamity,” Dr Farooq Abdullah was quoted saying. He hoped that the Yatra will resume soon as and when the weather improves.
“I am deeply pained by unfortunate incident of cloudburst at Shri Amarnathji Holy Cave, in which precious lives have been lost. I send my heartfelt condolences to bereaved families having lost their near and dears in the unfortunate tragic event,” Omar Abdullah added.
Meanwhile, former minister Ajay Kumar Sadhotra said he was in deep grief and shock over the loss of precious lives. He has called for expediting the rescue operations to trace the missing persons, providing the best available Medicare facilities to the injured, and relocating all the pilgrims and the service providers to safer places in view of the weather vagaries.
