Tremors of the October 8, 2005 earthquake, measuring 7.4 on the Richter scale, can still be felt in Jammu and Kashmir — it had left 970 dead and 6,200 injured — as the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has blasted the relief and rehabilitation measures taken by various state agencies following the catastrophe.While residents of 19 villages of Baramulla and Kupwara districts in Kashmir resettled in the areas declared vulnerable to quakes by a team of Geology and Mining Department in November 2007, those associated with rehabilitation work released money to the victims for reconstruction of houses in the endangered areas. And instead of re-constructing earthquake-resistant structures, they made kuchcha houses once again, says the CAG audit report.Of these villages, eight were in Uri (Baramulla) and 11 in Tangdhar (Kupwara). While no action was taken to relocate the population of endangered villages of Uri tehsil to safer places, a proposal for relocation of the residents of 11 villages to a safer place was mooted in April 2006. However, when the sanction for diversion of forest land for the said purpose came in October 2006, the people had reconstructed their houses.The CAG does not buy the reply of Kashmir Divisional Commissioner that inhabitants of these endangered villages were not prepared to leave their place of original residence in view of their livelihood concerns. “Reconstruction of houses in risk-prone areas defeated the entire purpose of rehabilitation programme,” the report observes. “Improper monitoring and implementation of post-rehabilitation efforts and lack of futuristic planning had rendered the whole exercise unproductive. Mere certificate of the stage of construction work does not mean that the prescribed guidelines were followed.”The authorities, instead of adhering to the “illustrated guidelines on earthquake-resistant reconstruction and new construction of masonry buildings in the state” prepared by national seismic advisor in the Union Home Ministry, released money for reconstruction of kuchcha houses by the victims at many places after the tremors.
