Flood victims avenge ‘official apathy’ by voting for change Government left us to fend for ourselves ARIF SHAFI WANI Srinagar, Dec 14: Amid hustle and bustle in a nearby polling station, Gulzar Ahmad Dar was engrossed in repairing his house and compound CGI-sheet wall damaged by recent devastating floods at Kursu Rajbagh area here. Dar said he has been moving from pillar to post to get compensation from the government for the loss due to flood. “However, my requests have met with deaf ears while some of my neighbours were lucky to receive compensation cheques,” he said pointing towards visible damages to his three storey house. “But today I have to avenge official apathy by use of my vote for change,” said Dar who earns his living by running a provision store. “It has become difficult for me to meet my two ends as my shop at Rajbagh was also damaged due to floods. Government and our legislator left me to fend for myself. I voted for a candidate who at least expressed sympathy with me when my world was submerged in floods”. Most of the voters in flood hit areas also echoed the same views. The polling booths in flood hit areas recorded considerably more turnout as compared to unaffected areas. Atthe worst flood hit areas in Shivpora and Batwara, anti-government resentment among voters came to fore. “After flood waters submerged my house, we lived without food in attic for five days. The government even failed to sound an alarm in time to let us evacuate before floods water submerged our house,” said Imtiaz Ahmad Mir of Rose Colony Shivpora who had come along his family to cast vote. “We can only give vent to our anger by casting votes for other candidates,” he said. Out of 1265 votes, 249 votes were polled at Shivpora (B) polling station. At flood hit Kursu Rajbagh, the locals also expressed their resentment against government. “ Government was missing while we were battling between life and death during floods. Are we only meant to cast votes?” asked Abdul Khaliq of Kursu Rajbagh. “We voted for a candidate who provided us with food and bedding,” he said showing indelible ink on his index finger. The polling booth set up at DAV school in flood ravaged Jawahar Nagar also bustled with hectic election activity. Though the turnout in six polling stations was comparatively not so high, those who voted minced no words about the government neglect. “Floods were caused due to failure of the government to put in place effective flood mitigation measures. However, we received paltry compensation for damages worth lakhs of rupees. We had no option but to vote for change,” said Muhammad Ramzan of Jawahar Nagar. At Mandir Bagh locality, locals said nearly 65 house suffered massive damage and other are unsafe. “Can we reconstruct our houses with Rs 75,000? This is a joke by the authorities with us. Most of us usually do not vote but this time we exercised franchise to bring a change so that we do not suffer injustice in future,” a group of locals said.
Posted on: Mon, 15 Dec 2014 12:22:01 +0000
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