Jammu and Kashmir lieutenant-governor (L-G) Manoj Sinha on Monday visited Gandbal to meet families of those who lost their lives and those who remain missing after the boat capsize tragedy.
A week after the incident, the rescue teams are still looking for the bodies of the three missing persons including two children.
Officials said Sinha met the families of six persons who lost their lives and expressed his condolences.
Accompanied by deputy commissioner Srinagar Bilal Bhat, Sinha also gave assurances to the families of the three persons still missing after the tragedy.
“Met the family members of the victims who lost their lives in the heart breaking boat tragedy on April 16 and expressed my deep condolences. I also assured all help and support. The UT Administration stands shoulder to shoulder with the families,” the office of LG said in a post on ‘X’.
Six people, including two children and their mother, were killed and three, including two minors, went missing in Srinagar’s Gandbal as a boat in Jhelum carrying the students to school on Tuesday morning capsized.
Sinha’s visit comes amid severe criticism of the government for the sluggish pace of construction of a footbridge, along the accident spot, which has been going on for nearly a decade. The locals and survivors of Gandbal have pointed out that the two banks were just 500 m apart, but that they were forced to make the treacherous trip across in the boats because the nearest bridge is 2 km away.
{{/usCountry}}Sinha’s visit comes amid severe criticism of the government for the sluggish pace of construction of a footbridge, along the accident spot, which has been going on for nearly a decade. The locals and survivors of Gandbal have pointed out that the two banks were just 500 m apart, but that they were forced to make the treacherous trip across in the boats because the nearest bridge is 2 km away.
{{/usCountry}}The search operation to find the missing persons after the boat capsized in Jhelum entered the seventh day on Monday. Local volunteers are also helping the rescue teams in the search.
The rescue teams of J&K Police, SDRF, NDRF and Marcos have been searching over and under the river from Gandbal to Raj Bagh in Srinagar with no success in finding the bodies.
The teams are looking for Farhan Waseem Parray, 7, Showkat Ahmad Sheikh, 40 and his son Haziq Showkat, 9.
The government has announced an ex-gratia relief of ₹5 lakh to each family who lost their loved ones and ₹50,000 to each injured.