Ladakhi students hold protest against NDMA, state govt

Tribune News Service

Jammu, May 8

Students of Ladakh today protested against the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) and state government saying that they were not able to evade a disaster, which ultimately hit Zanskar subdivision yesterday when flash floods, triggered by bursting of an artificial lake, led to a vast damage.

Students said despite having enough time in hand, both NDMA and state government were in deep slumber and did nothing to deal with the crisis.

“They (NDMA and state government) did nothing, but gave false assurances to people. By creating a 2 m-wide and deep channel to drain out water from the artificial lake, which developed on the Phuktal river, the NDMA fooled people of Zanskar when they claimed that this channel will help in draining out water in a controlled manner and the lake will not burst,” a student of Zanskar said.

Yesterday around 8 am flash floods triggered due to bursting of the lake led to a vast damage in the Zanskar subdivision in which several bridges were damaged and many fields were washed away.

With banners in their hands, Ladakhi students raised slogans against the NDMA and state government. They said for the past two months students of the area had been suffering as they were not able to go to schools fearing threat of a disaster. “Flash floods have snapped connectivity to many villages in the area and the government should immediately provide relief to affected people and reconstruct bridges,” they added.