Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, July 5: The State Government has once again taken up with the Government of India the issue of Central package for earthquake affected victims of Doda, Kishtwar and Ramban districts and was awaiting their final response. The Government was also mulling the idea of relaxing norms of State Disaster Relief Fund (SDRF) to increase amount of compensation for May 1 quake victims of three districts to increase the amount for damaged property.
Official sources told the Excelsior that after Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi made no mention of the package to earthquake victims during their two days visit to Jammu and Kashmir on June 25 and 26, the State Government again got in touch with the Government to know about its proposal of Rs 607 crore worth relief package sent to the Centre for approval as a special case.
“The Government is on the job once again. Efforts were being made to get the special Central package sanctioned even if the amount was less than the projected Rs 607 crore. We will wait for few more days before starting relief disbursement under the SDRF,’’ sources said.
However, they added that since the compensation under the SDRF norms was meager and not acceptable to the victims, the Government proposed to relax the norms to increase the amount for gutted and damaged property to satisfy the people and help them rebuild their houses before the onset of winter.
Sources said the Calamity Relief Fund (CRF), which was converted into SDRF by the Government of India, has fixed norms for completely damaged, severely damaged and partially damaged pucca and kucha houses but compensation under it was too meager to be accepted by the people.
The State Government has received last year’s pending installment under SDRF worth Rs 334 crores sometime back. The current SDRF funds and norms were meant for five years starting 2009 and would continue till 2014 unless changed or extended.
Sources said they have projected maximum amount of Rs 2 lakh compensation for damage to pucca houses and minimum Rs 1 lakh for kucha houses in the package proposed before the Centre. As only two people were killed in earthquake in Bhaderwah and Ramban, the authorities have already sanctioned Rs 1.5 lakh worth compensation each for their families while the injured were provided relief from Red Cross.
The State has released Rs 25 crore for three earthquake-affected districts from the SDRF. Sources said if the relief had to be distributed under the SDRF, the amount released would be enough for providing compensation to the people. However, as the compensation was meager under SDRF, the Government had to relax norms to increase the amount.
“This possibility (relaxation or norms) would be taken up only after the Centre Government formally conveyed to the State its decision on the package,’’ sources said.
Under Leh package, the people whose houses were fully damaged were given Rs 2.5 lakh, while those whose houses were severely damaged had received Rs 1.5 lakh. The people with partially damaged houses were given Rs 1 lakh.
Huge devastation was caused in Leh in August 2010 cloudburst in which over 200 persons were killed and 1000 others were damaged while several houses and other property were damaged.
However, under the SDRF, there was provision of only Rs 35,000 worth compensation for fully damaged pucca house and Rs 15,000 for fully damaged kucha houses, Rs 6300 for severely damaged pucca house and Rs 3200 for severely damaged kucha house, Rs 1900 for partially damaged pucca and kucha houses and Rs 1250 for damaged cattle shed.
“By no means, this compensation could heal the wounds of earthquake victims as it was too meager to repair the damaged houses and property,’’ sources said.
As per the official data, 47,513 houses have been damaged in Doda district in the quake and aftershocks which included 678 fully, 10255 severely and 29,317 partially. Bhaderwah town of Doda district bore the brunt of the damage. In Kishtwar district, about 100 houses have been fully damaged while 2815 were severely damaged and about 19,000 were partially damaged.
The damage was comparatively less in Ramban district.
In Doda district, damage to Government infrastructure was around Rs 89 crores while in Kishtwar it was Rs 8 crores and in Ramban Rs 1.5 crores. In Doda district, about 500 schools, 14 Primary Health Centres and 279 Community Health Centres have been damaged while in Kishtwar district, 169 schools were damaged.
Sources said the figures of damage to private property i.e. the houses, shops, cow shed and other personal and commercial establishments in Doda, Kishtwar and Ramban districts has been worked out separately by the administration on Leh pattern and SDRF (State Disaster Relief Fund).
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