Floods hit publication of local newspapers in Srinagar

Srinagar, Sep 17: The local newspapers have failed to publish since floods hit the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir as offices of most of the dailies and weeklies have been inundated for the last 10 days.

Mushtaq Press Enclave, which houses the offices of several leading English and Urdu dailies, is still under several feet of water. Water entered Lal Chowk and surrounding areas on September 7 after River Jhelum overflowed its banks and later breached it near Abi Guzar.

Within hours, the area including the Press Enclave, were under several feet of water, affecting the publication of the newspapers. Most of the dailies are operating their internet editions but are not sure when they will be able to resume the print edition.

"All the equipment is submerged and we will have to replace most of it before we start again. I guess we have to start afresh," a senior official of a leading English newspaper in Kashmir told PTI.

However, Editor of Kashmir Monitor, Shamim Meraj, claimed that he managed to bring out an edition of his daily today after nine days.

"We were able to bring out the edition today. People have lapped up the copies as there were no newspapers available since floods hit Kashmir," Meraj said.

PTI