Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Sept 16: After concluding his tour of the flood-hit areas of Udhampur and Reasi Districts, Dr. Jitendra Singh, Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Science & Technology and Earth Sciences, MoS in PMO, DoPT, Space and Atomic Energy, today undertook an extensive survey of flood-hit areas in the districts of Poonch and Rajouri, where he interacted with the inmates of relief camps at Surankote, received briefing from the Deputy Commissioners of two districts and attended a condolence ceremony at Nowshera to mourn the death of members of a marriage party whose bus had got drowned in the flash floods.
Responding to a demand from certain quarters for a special flood relief package for Jammu & Kashmir, Dr. Jitendra Singh said that the offer of relief assistance from the Centre is much more than any “package” and therefore, by demanding a package we would only be restricting ourselves from receiving unlimited help being offered by the Government of India.
At the District Headquarters at Poonch, Dr. Jitendra Singh was presented a power point resume of the rescue and relief operations by the District Development Commissioner, M H Malik in the presence of DIG Police, Ashok Kumar, MLA Aijaz Jan, MLC Shahnaz Ganai, prominent political leaders Sunil Gupta, Satish Sasan, Haji Mohammad , Pradip Sharma and representatives of civil society.
Dr. Jitendra Singh said that the Deputy Commissioners of both Rajouri and Poonch districts have put forward requirement for more tents which he will check with Divisional Commissioner, Jammu and Union Home Secretary, because the Disaster Management Division and the Border Management Division in the Union Home Ministry have already started the exercise of providing sufficient number of tents to the State.
He said that there is no dearth of supply from the Centre, but there appear to be certain missing links in the distribution of the relief material at micro-level in different districts and flood hit areas for which he advised the Deputy Commissioners to institutionalize a definite mechanism. Every Deputy Commissioner, he said, should constitute a committee of citizens representing different political parties and social groups who can be held responsible for identifying the genuine deserving victims and the quantum of relief to be provided to each such victim. He also advised the District Administration to hold regular meetings with such group of citizens in order to avoid accusation of any partiality in distribution of relief material.
Referring to the disruption of road connectivity as a result of floods, Dr. Jitendra Singh said that he will take up with the Border Roads Organization (BRO) the issue of immediate construction of at least some of those valley bridges which are urgently required for effective transport of relief material. Other long-term measures with regard to roads and related issues will have to be taken up after the relief phase is over, he added.
Dr. Jitendra Singh said that the loss of cattle / animal reported from District Poonch is 979 and he has asked the District Administration for a detailed assessment of the compensation to the owners. Similar assessment can also be done in relation to the damage to the crops, he added.
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