Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Sept 4: Shocked over deaths and destruction in nature’s furry, particularly the Nowshera mishaps in which 50 persons of a marriage party died when their bus was washed away in flash flood, leaders of different political parties have sought rescue and relief measures at war footing level.
Former Union Minister and senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad has conveyed his heartfelt condolences and sympathies to all such families who have lost their loved one in the accident and flash foods. He called upon the administration to extend all possible assistance to rescue the bodies and provide speedy assistance to the affected people.
Mr Azad also conveyed his sympathies to those who have suffered loss to their properties due to nature’s fury and said that the administration has to gird its loins to reach out to the people for providing them necessary assistance. He called upon the State Government to immediately take steps to evacuate the people stranded in various parts of the State. “Although there are reports that infrastructure, both public and private, has been extensively damaged, however, the priority in these circumstances has to be rescue and evacuation, relief and safety”, stated Azad adding that there was a need to press all the resources into services, including the services of Army and paramilitary forces to beef up the rescue operations in the worst hit areas.
Urging the Revenue Minister to coordinate the relief and rescue operations personally and activate the respective Disaster Management Units, Mr Azad appreciated the role of army in rescuing stranded people from various affected areas of the State and sought their cooperation for tiding over the current crisis.
BJP State president and MP Jammu-Poonch Parliamentary constituency, Jugal Kishore Sharma has expressed great shock and anguish over the unprecedented loss of property and life due to heavy rains and flash floods in Jammu region, particularly in Rajouri and Poonch districts.
He took up the matter and talked to Divisional Commissioner, Jammu for ensuring the timely and prompt relief and help to the public who are victims of these unprecedented rains. The MP said that the Government should press into service all the resources and means on war- footing rescue and relief operations as these flash floods have badly damaged roads, bridges, building, houses uprooted poles and trees, affected the normal life and caused immense destruction and loss of precious lives. He said that senior officials should be stationed round the clock in the affected areas to supervise the relief operations and immediate cash relief and essential commodities should be made available.
Madan Lal Sharma, ex-Minister and former MP has also demanded immediate relief for the people affected by flash floods and heavy rains in different parts of Jammu region particularly Poonch, Rajouri, Jammu and Samba.
He expressed his condolences and solidarity with families who have lost their family members in various flash floods and in a tragic bus mishap at Khud stream in Laam village of tehsil Nowshera in district Rajouri. He asked the Deputy Commissioners to assess the loss of life, property and crops and provide immediate relief to the affected people.
Ashok Sharma, former MLA and senior Congress leader, has expressed shock and agony over the unfortunate bus accident taking away the lives of about 5 dozen innocent persons at Lam-Dhral in Nowshera area of Rajouri district today.
Expressing sympathies with the bereaved families, he urged the State and Central Governments to provide compensation to the tune of Rs 5 lac to each family and a job to each bereaved family.
Mr Sharma demanded a judicial enquiry to find out the cause of the accident and the remedies to prevent such mishaps in future. He said that had the State Government and the authorities concerned implemented the directions of J&K High Court in Ashok Kumar Sharma V/S State of J&K and others, passed in writ petition, such type of accidents would have got prevented.
Expressing grief over loss of precious lives and properties due to incessant rains and flash floods, People’s Democratic Party (PDP) regretted that State Government headed by Omar Abdullah has failed to timely launch rescue operation. Party also regretted that administration has failed to provide relief to the affected people.
Addressing a function of senior party leaders at Jammu, MLA Mendhar Sardar Rafiq Hussain Khan regretted that incessant rains and flash floods have rendered hundreds of people homeless but authorities have failed to take concrete steps to provide emergent relief to the people. Today’s emergent meeting was convened at PDP office to discuss prevailing grave situation in Jammu region due to incessant rains and flood floods. MLA Mendhar said that failure of the authorities to timely launch rescue operation has further compounded woes of the masses.
In the meeting, it was announced to set up a helpline to provide emergent relief to the affected people by coordinating with the affected families. The Helpline committee is headed by former Rajya Sabha member Trilok Singh Bajwa and comprised Ved Mahajan, Jagjit Singh Jagga, Surinder Choudhary, Balbir Singh and Fallail Singh.
The meeting also expressed grief over the loss of lives due to heavy rain and floods across the State. Meeting also expressed grief over tragic road accident in Rajouri district where a bus carrying Baratis got washed away by flashfloods resulting several deaths of precious lives.
PDP general secretary and MLC Yash Pal Sharma has also expressed his grief over loss of precious lives in tragic accident at Nowshera due to flash floods and disaster caused by the nature’s fury.
PDP leader Vikramaditya Singh visited rain effected areas of Jammu, RS Pura and its surrounding villages to estimate individually the losses caused by heavy rains during the last two days.
The leader also conveyed his sympathies to the people of Rajouri and Poonch areas, who have suffered heavy loss due to floods and heavy rains. He expressed his deep condolences to the families who lost their beloved ones in the unfortunate bus accident.
Vikramaditya Singh requested the administration to assess the losses for relief purpose and rehabilitate the effected people on war footing.
Ch Abdul Ghani, social activist and independent candidate from Poonch Haveli, paid condolence to the families of those who lost their lives and demanded rehabilitation for those who lost their homes.
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