Eight months have gone by and flood victims in State are still waiting for adequate relief that would help them re-start their normal life activity. Much is said by various quarters including the Government agencies on relief provided to the victims, but the fact is that much more remains to be done especially in the case of about 15000 shopkeepers and petty business units who have not been able to restart their normal life.
Addressing a press conference recently, Ashwani Kumar, head of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Science and Technology, Environment and Forests said that after the panel’s interaction with local people and their representatives, it is of the opinion that adequate assistance has not been provided to the flood sufferers by the Central Government. Relief benefits have not reached all the sufferers. The State Government had suggested certain amount to meet the requirements of flood sufferers but that has not been provided by the Centre. The panel has appealed to the Union Government that keeping in mind geographical and other conditions of the State, it would be advisable to provide adequate quantum of support to the victims of last September floods in Kashmir. We know that there have been some irregularities in distribution of relief in some cases. That should not be the argument to withhold the relief from other sufferers. The fact is that it takes lot of time for a petty shopkeeper to restart his normal life and business after a shocking incident has disrupted it completely. We recommend that the State Government should intensify scrutiny of genuine flood sufferers. It should also make an inventory of the people who have been provided with relief and also the quantum of relief they have received. This will clear the picture and remove doubts about the recipients.
The Parliamentary Panel has made humanitarian approach to the problem. Those who are still in dire need of help to re-start their lives have to be provided with support. We are hopeful that the recommendations of parliamentary panel will be considered by the Home Ministry with sympathy and the issue of adequate relief to the victims will be resolved once for all.
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