SRINAGAR : The Centre today assured all possible help to Jammu and Kashmir while suggesting strategies to the state government to address the problems of relief and rehabilitation of the flood affected people.
“Prime Minister Narendra Modi has made it clear that there will be no shortcoming by the Centre in providing all possible help to the people affected by the floods. We will do whatever is needed to help the people of the state,” Union Minister of State for PMO, Jitendra Singh said here.
Addressing the launch function of special credit-cum-relief camps set up by various banks for the flood affected people, Singh said the Centre would go beyond what was needed to provide succour to the people of the state.
The minister suggested the state government to have a session with the people to listen to and address their grievances and involve representatives of civil society in distribution of relief.
“I have two suggestions for the state government. First, they should have an open session where the affected people can highlight their grievances and the government addresses them on spot, ” he said,
“The government should involve the representatives of civil society in the distribution of the relief. The representatives can be of any party, who stand above any political considerations.
“This way representatives would identify the affected people and there would be no allegations of nepotism against you (the government),” he added.
The Union minister said although the Centre is doing everything it could to help the people of the state but there was still criticism by the “habitual critics”.
“The Centre did everything to help the people when even the civil secretariat was under water. Still it is being said that nothing was done. There are some of our friends, who are habitual critics. They get upset when there is nothing left to criticise,” he said.
Singh said some people wanted Centre to declare the floods as a national disaster, but the government was willing to give more than what was prescribed under national disaster.
“They wanted the floods to be declared as a national calamity. We are ready to give more than what can be given under national calamity. The problem is not the supply but in the distribution and the utility,” he said.
Pandemonium broke out briefly during the function as the flood-affected people criticised the state government alleging failure in providing succour to them.
Singh pacified them saying the state government had understood the issues raised by the people.
“I have understood what you are saying and they (state government) too have. You give it a thought that why did God wreak a catastrophe of such magnitude on us?,” he said.
Singh also said that there should be a study to assess if the flood that devastated Kashmir Valley was “partly natural and partly man-made”.
“Though the time is not ripe for such a thing right now as we are still coming out of the rescue and relief (stage), it has to be seen where we lacked and analyse if the calamity was a totally natural one or partly man made,” he said.
The minister said the tragedy was an opportunity to learn from the “deeds and misdeeds”.
The Union Minister said a special assistance scheme has been devised to give succour to the flood-affected people of the state.
“It is the most liberalised loan policy ever in the world. Is there any bank which can give loans to the people without any profit to itself? Under this scheme, rescheduling would be done for those who already had loans so that such cases are not deemed as non-performing assets.
“Loans upto Rs 10 Lakh would be provided to the people at the rate of 8.5 per cent. National Bank has given money to the scheduled banks at the rate of 6.5 per cent so that such banks provide loans on 8.5 per cent with a moratorium of two years and seven years of repayment.
“Rs 10 lakh would be provided for the industry and those who have working capital, 25 per cent of that would be accepted as a loan,” Singh said, adding “we are in talks with insurance companies also”. (AGENCIES)
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