Srinagar: Self-help groups are doing their best in the areas of sanitation and hygiene in flood-ravaged Kashmir Valley, where hundreds of people perished in devastating floods and where carcasses of animals are floating in the steets now in many towns, unleashing the fear of epidemics.
One such group, 3Rs (Rescue, Relief and Rehabilitation), has been initiated by Shujaat Bukhari, editor-in-chief of Srinagar-based English daily Rising Kashmir.
He said the carcasses dotting Srinagar has indeed led to a grave health concern, and his group is actively working to provide medical aid to the people.
“The situation continues to be grave. Government has started lifting the dead animals, partcularly dead chicken, but we are not sure whether they are being disinfected before being buried. We are hence distributing clorine tablets and phenyl besides anti-biotics and other disinfectants in huge volumes to people,” Bukhari told IANS.
He said that the state government, to him, was “still invisible” and it was up to the people to help themselves as far as medical aid and hygene were concerned.
“The 3R initiative is supported by people across India. We received medical and other supplies from Rotary Club, Coimbatore and Shadan Institute of Medical Sciences, Hyderabad, among others. We put up camps in different areas like Nowgam, Nishat, Humhama and distributed medicine, clothes and food material,” Bukhari said.
3R, in the initial days of the flood, also purchased a boat from Delhi and was able to rescue around 800 people from Batmaloo, Lal Chowk, Exchange Road, and Red Cross Road, he said.
“Till September 12, no rescue team of NDRF or the army was able to reach Lal Chowk or Exchange Road,” Bukhari said.
Shafqat Khan, a senior government official in Family Welfare Department, too has formed a team to distribute releif material and medicines.
“After the flood receded, we have been distributing general medicines such as antibiotics, anti-diabetics, anti-hypertension, anti-tetanus, analgesics in areas such as Airport road, Barzulla, Baghat, Rawalpora,” Khan told IANS.
Salman Nizami, joint secretary of the Jammu and Kashmir Congress, too had been in the forefront of self-help groups and has been distributing ration to people who have lost their homes and taken shelter in makeshift camps. (IANS)
