Floods hit SKUAST-Jammu Agriculture Faculty, damage worth crores feared

Rajouri, Aug 27: Floodwaters inundated the Faculty of Agriculture (FoA) campus at Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology (SKUAST) Jammu, causing extensive damage to equipment, vehicles, and property worth crores of rupees.

Rescue teams from the Army, CRPF, NDRF, and SDRF evacuated dozens of stranded students and staff after hours-long operations, while fears mount over possible loss of valuable research data.

The entire Faculty of Agriculture (FoA) campus of the university got engulfed under floodwater, and rescue teams had to struggle hard to rescue students, staff members and labourers who got stuck in the water.

Many students, especially girls, were seen struggling as the water level almost reached up to the neck level.

As per details, at around 12 PM on Tuesday, the situation suddenly worsened on the Chatha university campus after a heavy flow of water started to enter the area from a nearby stream, with the ground floors of all buildings, including classrooms, offices, laboratories, libraries, waiting halls, and corridors, getting submerged in water, and vehicles of staff members as well as students were seen floating here and there.

Around one dozen students, mostly girl students, were seen stuck in water, while remaining staff members and students were stuck on the first floor of buildings, crying for help, with a number of students also getting stuck in hostels located on the campus.

As per an official statement, the Indian Army as well as the Central Reserve Police Force, besides the NDRF and SDRF teams headed by DIG SDRF Mohammad Irshad, carried out an hours-long rescue operation.

"A team of the 24th Battalion of CRPF came to the aid of students stranded in the flooded campus of Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology (SKUAST), Jammu." CRPF stated in its official statement.

The timely intervention of the CRPF not only averted a potential tragedy but also highlighted its unwavering commitment to public safety and disaster response, said a spokesperson of the force.

It has been learnt that dozens of students stuck badly in floodwater were rescued by the rescue teams that were assisted by university officials as well as people from the area who visited the university campus and extended their best possible help in the operation of rescue.

On the other hand, the initial details of the loss of property on the university campus are concerning, as the loss of property worth crores of rupees is feared.

Equipment and machinery, including costly machines meant for research purposes, and other valuables lying in most of the offices, classrooms, and other sections suffered damage, including computers.

Besides the loss of crores of rupees, the staff and faculty of the university fear that papers, other data and especially research data could have been affected by the flood as well.

"We have suffered massive loss." Not only is the equipment and machinery affected, but we also fear damage to research data," said research faculty members, who, however, added with optimism that, "We will bounce back."