INDIA is a land of festivals. Almost every other day there is some or the other festival, but the festivity reaches its peak as the time of the harvest of rice approaches. This is also the time when Kashmiri apples reach the national and international markets. But, this year the season of festivals has brought a long series of destruction and worries for the people of Jammu and Kashmir. The devastating floods which the state saw in the first week of September are completely unprecedented for this ‘heaven on the earth’. It is nearly impossible to gauge the extent of destruction in Jammu and Kashmir and to understand the pain of Kashmiri people from the reports coming in newspapers and TV channels. This realisation came when Comrade Sitaram Yechury and I reached the flood affected areas of Jammu and Kashmir between October 7 to 9. As soon as we reached the Srinagar airport on the morning of October 8, Chief Security Officer informed us that the floods were so fierce and intense that it covered the entire Srinagar city almost immediately. No one got any chance to save anything. People were barely able to save their own lives and that of the people around them. Airport remained intact and it became the refuge of the flood victims. All means of contacts were broken and there was havoc all around. We went to Kulgam district along with party’s state unit secretary Yousuf Tarigami and other comrades. We couldn’t have ever imagined whatever we saw on the way. Lush green rice fields were ruined. Destroyed crops were no longer fit even for the animals to eat. Gardens of apple, walnut and other fruits were destroyed completely. No sign of their existence were left. There were just damaged or broken homes on both sides of the broken road. We visited Kilangund, Chhambgund and Aarigatru areas of Kulgam district and Hustrapur village of Anantnag district. Whatever we saw there was heart wrenching. Many villages had ceased to exist. No sign of their existence was left. People were forced to take shelter in other places, and it was not even possible for them to identify the location of their houses. In some villages, the ground was levelled in such a manner that it was difficult to believe that once there were houses on the same ground. On October 9, we visited Rajbag, Kursu, Jawahar Nagar, Ikhraj Nagar and Lal Chowk areas of Srinagar. Floods were so intense that it destroyed everything that came in its way. Rajbag is a posh colony on the banks of River Jhelum and a 15-feet high dam separated it from the river. Residents of the colony had never even imagined that river water would break such high dam and submerge their buildings up to two floors. In this Rajbag only, a bus standing in the lawns of a school was washed away and collided with the buildings across the road. Lal Chowk, which is a centre of trade and commerce, was submerged in water for 12 days. Where ever we went, people showed us the destroyed goods lying in their shops. On October 7, we had gone to Jammu and visited Belicharna area along the banks of River Tawi. We also went to the Government Medical College to meet the people injured due to shelling from the Pakistani side of the border. Sadal Village in Pancheri block of Uddhampur district has been destroyed completely by the landslide. As many as 40 people have lost their lives and 17 bodies are yet to be recovered. Rest of the people are forced to live under open sky without even the basic facilities. Some of the things which emerged out of our visit to Jammu and Kashmir are as follows. Wherever we went, we were told by the people that none of their elected representatives have visited them till now. Not even the government officials have come to know their condition or to review the extent of damage. Only in Hustrapur village we heard that the Patwari had visited one day. In many areas people told Yechury that he was the first MP to visit them. In both Jammu and Kashmir, people plainly said that whether it is the Centre or the state, government is just a namesake here. They haven’t received anything from the government. The government had announced that every family would be given 50 kilograms of ration, but most of the families haven’t got even this. Whatever relief material they are getting, is only due to individual efforts. The relief package announced by the government is a cruel joke against the flood affected people of Jammu and Kashmir. The government has announced Rs 70,000 compensation for completely damaged pucca houses, Rs 15,000 for partially damaged pucca houses and Rs 17,600 for kachcha houses. Even though no one has received this compensation, the self-respectful people of the state are not ready to take such charity. Their demand is that the floods in the state should be declared a national calamity and people be given the compensation accordingly, as was done in the Uttarakhand floods last year and the earthquake in Gujarat in 2002. The damage to the houses, land, gardens, trade and commerce in Jammu and Kashmir has completely destroyed the economy of the state. No one can say that how many years it will take to put back the economy on track. Tourism is the biggest source of employment and income in the state. Most of the hotels are damaged and the remaining ones are completely empty; which effectively means that the current tourism season is going to waste completely. Economic package announced by the Prime Minister during his aerial visit is paltry to say the least. That is why, in every public meeting, CPI(M) Polit Bureau member Sitaram Yechury and other leaders of the party reiterated this demand of the party that the floods be declared a national calamity and the economic package be announced accordingly, so that the victims are not only rehabilitated properly and the people, as well the economy can stand again on its own feet. In this context, we were told in many places that the central government is not allowing many foreign NGOs to carry forth the rehabilitation work. Such organisations should be allowed to carry forth the relief work under the government vigilance in existing legal framework. Saving the lives was the immediate concern for everyone. Army saved thousands of lives, but it took three days of intervene. It was the local youth who immediately undertook the relief work. Wooden planks were tied to tyres and young men jumped into 15-20 feet deep water to save the lives. We heard such stories at various places. Workers in Santoor Hotel near the Dal Lake told us that a conference of doctors was underway, when the flood struck. Except the top floor, the entire hotel was submerged. Doctors were somehow rescued by the workers and sent to the airport through helicopters. Chief Security Officer at the airport had also mentioned the exemplary bravery shown by the young men in saving the lives. A young women doctor, who was stranded in the flood with her young child told him how a young men rescued her and ensured that she reached the airport. The dirty game played by the communal forces was also clearly visible. It was campaigned in the Jammu region by such forces that all the relief material and money is being diverted to the Kashmir Valley and the Jammu region is being discriminated against. While in the Kashmir Valley, it is being campaigned that all the relief material is stopped in Jammu and not allowed to reach the Valley. But the reality is that the condition of the flood victims in both the region is same. Their concerns and demands are also same. We met many senior government officials at the Jammu and Srinagar airports. They apprised us of the current situation, but the ground reality was completely different from their version. They had put the blame of the severity of the floods on the heavy rainfall and the cloudburst. But, we found that more than a natural disaster, it was a man-made disaster. Ruling classes along with the bureaucracy have captured the land along the banks of the rivers and have illegally constructed buildings. At many places along the banks even government buildings have been illegally constructed. In a situation of flood, there was no outlet for the water to seep out. Similarly in many places, rivulet changed their course to magnify the extent of damage. For instance, in Arigatri of Kulgam, Vish rivulet changed its course and created havoc. In this village, a big public meeting was organised, where people demanded that concrete dams be built on both sides of the rivulet. Role of the Party has been exemplary in both Jammu and Kashmir regions, in dealing the flood situation. While state machinery was in shambles and none of the ruling class politicians were to be seen, party and its activists plunged into the relief work, without worrying about anything. Mohammad Yousuf Tarigami went with relief material along with other comrades from one village to another. Wherever our comrades are present in Southern Kashmir or anywhere else in the Valley, they have given everything in relief works. People told us that Tarigami was the only elected representative who stood by them in this moment of crisis. Particularly in southern Kashmir and Srinagar, flood victims expect that the Party will carry forward this work and force the central government to agree to their demands. Apart from the relief package of Rs 10 crore from the MP funds, the Party had also given a call of fund collection for the flood relief. Relief work has started from the money which has been collected till now. A central delegation of CPI(M) had brought a sum of Rs 30 lakh as the first installment in this relief and rehabilitation work. Though it needs to be noted that given the scale of damage this amount is insufficient and hence it is necessary that more and more funds are mobilised to run the relief and rehabilitation work being carried out by the party in the state.