The heavy and unprecedented rains and hailstorm that hit in the early hours of October 23 to October 24 have brought havoc in Jammu and Kashmir for which the farmers and the Administration was not prepared at all. The Nature’s fury destroyed the standing agriculture and horticulture crops near ripening over thousands of hectares of fields and orchards both in Jammu and Kashmir region.
The misfortune happened when the administration was busy in preparing and finalising the high-profile three-day visit of Union Home Minister, Amit Shah to Union Territory.
Torrential rains, hailstorms were so intense that no protection measures could have made possible and it rendered the situation helpless for even any possible salvage. In Jammu Division, paddy crop, particularly the highly valued Basmati varieties standing in thousands of hectares and vegetables and vegetable seedlings of onion, potato, Cole crops (broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, collards, kale, mustard, turnips, and radishes etc.) got destroyed due to heavy rains and unprecedented hailstorm in Ranbir Singh Pura, Bishnah, Samba, Ramgarh, Marh, Kathua and other areas of Jammu region. Farmers and orchardists have suffered immense losses to their crops and produce due to unseasonal rains/hailstorms that have lashed the entire Jammu region and in particular the paddy growing belt all along the International Border (IB) in Bishnah- R S Pura and Samba and other areas.
The devastation was reportedly amply from Kashmir and it was well covered by local and national media while the havoc fallen on the farmers of Jammu division remained unnoticed under the hype of visit of Union Home Minister to Jammu on October 24.
While the administration has mobilized all resources at its command by pressing into service of the line departments to assess the damages to fruit and agriculture crops in Kashmir valley on the very first day of rains i.e. Oct 23, it has not shown any similar concern for the damages caused in Jammu division.
Jammu has always suffered during similar mishaps when the erstwhile state government turned their focus on providing fast relief to the sufferers in Kashmir valley while the pains and agonies of their Jammu counterparts were subjected to a casual approach.
Unfortunately, the conduct and mindset of the current dispensation too remained tilted towards Kashmir. It is further painful to note that people from Jammu wielding power, senior bureaucrats and even the local media of Jammu too remain unconcerned and insensitive towards such mishaps or disasters suffered by people of Jammu. There was even a dearth of proper news coverage of the damage to crops in the Jammu region by the local media. On the other side of the tunnel, the media was flooded with the reports and concerns expressed by the local political parties, social and professional bodies.
The Administration too showed promptness in dealing with the situation. The Advisor Farooq Khan has issued orders for immediate assessment of damages to orchards and crops in Kashmir valley on Oct 23rd itself. Interestingly, the entire administration remained preoccupied with the high profile visit of the Union Home Minister to Jammu Kashmir on Oct. 23 – 24 and its hang-over even thereafter.
It is only after the Minister retired to his day’s itinerary that some movement on the part of some political leaders has been noticed. The Director Agriculture Jammu with other senior officers and revenue officials have conducted field visits to assess the crop losses due to hailstorm and heavy rains in Marh & Mishriwala areas, R.S. Pura, Akhnoor and Dansal sub divisions of Jammu district. Director Agriculture also visited Seed Multiplication Farm at Chak Jaggar, Marh Rice Procurement Mandi and interacted with affected farmers in distress and concerned officials of the Paddy Procurement Centres and the department. KK Sharma has reported that Within 12 hours there was an unprecedented 80 to over 100 mm of rainfall which not only damaged paddy and vegetables, but also the oil-seeds like Toria and freshly sown mustard crop. Damage has occurred in Vijaypur and Ramgarh areas too. Further losses are being assessed. He said that the damage tantamount to a calamity.
We often talk about the discrimination with Jammu accusing Kashmir leadership but never introspected why we are not that assertive as our people in Kashmir. The unassertive and docile nature seems to have gone deep into our core that keeps us insensitive towards our own issues and resigned to the social and political realities and then crying foul over the spilt milk.
