Now assess the flood loss

Relentless rains over the past few weeks have left a trail of destruction across Jammu and Kashmir. In Jammu, flash floods and landslides have claimed more than 150 lives, and in the Valley, floods have inundated villages, damaged homes, and devastated vast swathes of farmland and apple orchards. The arrival of a Ministry of Home Affairs team to assess the damage could not be more urgent.

The fresh floods - albeit, not of the scale pf 2014 - have revived the Valley’s worst fears about its perennial vulnerability to natural disasters. Yet, each time the waters rise, the story is the same, unpreparedness, fragile infrastructure, and an anxious population waiting for help. This year is no different. In Pulwama and Kulgam, apple farmers who were celebrating what promised to be the best crop in decades now watch their orchards drowning, their produce rotting by the roadside. Losses are already pegged at around Rs 200 crore, and the long-term damage to trees could cripple horticulture for years.

The closure of the Srinagar–Jammu National Highway has compounded the crisis, leaving hundreds of trucks carrying perishable produce stranded. The Mughal Road, the other alternative, can barely take the load. The Valley’s economy, so deeply tied to apple and paddy harvests, is in danger of suffering a crippling setback.

Against this backdrop, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah’s assurance that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has promised all possible help brings a measure of hope. There is now hope for swift compensation to farmers. The MHA team’s assessment, therefore, carries enormous weight. It must not be reduced to a routine survey that disappears into files.

Much like 2014, this is the moment for the Centre and now the Union Territory administration to work together, with urgency and empathy. To start with, there is a need to come up with the assessment of the loss and then go about in right earnest to compensate the affected people. As the rivers and streams subside, and the flood threat recedes, this should be the priority of the UT government.