*7 Ministers submit Omar’s letter to PM
Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, Sept 13: Prime Minister Narendra Modi today promised all possible help to flood ravaged Jammu and Kashmir and declared that funds have “no limit” to rebuild the State, which has suffered immense damage in terms of infrastructure, lives, civilian property etc during the past few days.
Modi gave this assurance to a seven member delegation of Ministers from Jammu and Kashmir, which called on him at 7, Race Course Road this afternoon and handed him over a letter written by Chief Minister Omar Abdullah listing demands of the State Government.
Among a series of demands, Omar through his letter to the Prime Minister has demanded declaration of floods in Jammu and Kashmir as “natural calamity” and relief on the pattern of 2010 Leh cloudbursts.
The meeting of J&K’s Ministers with the Prime Minister lasted 45 minutes from 1 pm onwards.
Official sources told the Excelsior that Modi told the delegation that there was “no limit” to the funds for Jammu and Kashmir to accelerate relief and rescue operations and rebuild the damaged infrastructure. He assured every kind of help the State Government required in dealing with the worst ever floods, which have taken several lives and caused huge destruction of infrastructure and civilian property.
“The funds will not be allowed to come in the way of rescue and relief operations,” the Prime Minister told the delegation while assuring them all help in all sectors including power, water, construction etc.
Modi had himself visited Jammu and Kashmir to assess the damage while Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) Dr Jitendra Singh have also visited the State. Union Health and Family Welfare Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan is presently on two days visit to the State while Union Home Secretary Anil Goswami is camping in Srinagar for last two days. Army chief Gen Dalbir Singh Suhag has paid two visits to flood hit areas while Air Force chief, DG Air Operations, DG CRPF and DG NDRF apart from several other top officials have visited the Valley.
The Prime Minister assured the delegation of J&K Ministers that Rs 2100 crores worth initial Centre help announced by him to the State would be released expeditiously and there would be no dearth of funds for carrying out rescue and relief operations and building infrastructure.
Worthwhile to mention here that Army, Indian Air Force and National Disaster Responder Force (NDRF) were engaged in massive relief and rescue operation in the entire State and have saved thousands of lives apart from providing relief to the flood victims and laying temporary bridges to connect the people.
The J&K’s delegation was led by Deputy Chief Minister Tara Chand and comprised Finance Minister Abdul Rahim Rather, Planning and Development Minister Ajay Sadhotra, Rural Development Minister Ali Mohammad Sagar, Transport and CAPD Minister Mohammad Ramzan, Public Enterprises, Haj and Auquaf Minister Peerzada Mohammad Sayeed and PHE, Irrigation and Flood Control Minister Sham Lal Sharma.
The delegation handed over a letter to Prime Minister on behalf of Chief Minister Omar Abdullah listing in detail the demands of the State Government for flood affected victims and re-building infrastructure.
Signed by Omar, the letter, which was handed over to Modi by Tara Chand in the presence of MoS in PMO Dr Jitendra Singh and top PMO officials, demanded declaration of J&K floods as “natural calamity” and providing relief to the victims on the pattern of 2010 Leh cloudbursts.
Sources said if the situation caused by the floods was declared as “natural calamity”, it would give further increase role of the Government of India in undertaking several relief works and rebuilding infrastructure. In 2010 Leh tragedy, the victims were given compensation for fully damaged and partially damaged houses to rebuild them apart from the ex gratia to the families of dead and injured.
However, in case of present floods, the Prime Minister had already declared Rs 2 lakh relief for next of kin of dead and Rs 50,000 for injured apart from Rs 2100 crores for infrastructure. The Centre has promised every possible help the State needs to cope up with the tragedy.
Through his letter, the Chief Minister has also demanded immediate supply of food grains and essential commodities to the State to ensure that the people didn’t have to face shortage of such items.
He sought intervention of the Prime Minister for expeditious settlement of insurance claims so that the people, who had insured their houses, could rebuild them before onset of the water. He has also sought covering insurance under floods in the cases, where it hasn’t been done by the people.
To deal with epidemic threat after flood waters recede, Omar has demanded that health teams should be deputed from the Centre fully equipped with medicines and chemicals to ensure that there was no break out of epidemic and the people didn’t suffer.
The Chief Minister has also sought the assistance of Central teams in re-building infrastructure damaged by the floods.
The delegation members said the Prime Minister was very sympathetic to their demands and has assured all possible help to the State in this hour of grief.
Thanking the Centre for timely help in difficult and trying circumstances, the delegation said the role played by the Indian Army, the IAF and the NDRF in aid of the civil authorities made the rescue efforts extremely result oriented.
It said that the State was looking forward for continued and extended support in the shape of a ‘special rehabilitation package’ that will address all issue inclusively to bring the State back to the normalcy in the shortest possible time.
Sources said the delegation requested the Prime Minister for immediate relief of Rs 5 lakh each to people whose houses had been fully damaged in the floods and Rs 2 lakh to those whose housed had been partially damaged.
The delegation drew the attention of the Prime Minister to the 2010 floods in Ladakh where the Centre had provided financial assistance of Rs 2 lakh for fully damaged houses and Rs 1 lakh to partially damaged houses for reconstruction.
“Considering that the residential houses in Kashmir are built at a cost much higher than other parts of the country and in view of limited working season available before the onset of the winter, it is imperative that the Centre agrees to fund reconstruction of the damaged houses at the rate of Rs 5 lakh for fully damaged houses and Rs 2 lakh in respect of partially damaged houses,” the letter submitted by the delegation to the PM said.
It said losses in agriculture and horticulture sectors will also need to be compensated fully, apart from providing financial support to affected business units.
“All these elements will need to be factored into a special rehabilitation package which also aims at addressing the livelihood concerns of a large number of stakeholders devastated by the tragedy, it said.
The delegation also sought help of the Indian Air Force in air dropping ‘ration kits’ comprising of essentials like rice, dal, oil, sugar, tea leaves and dry milk in areas that are not accessible by road.
“We need to provide dry ration to the affected families at the earliest,” the delegation said, adding support in supplying of such ‘ration kits’ and air dropping of the same with the help of IAF will be necessary till the civil administration was able to reach out to these areas.
The delegation conceded that there was anger among the public and said, “It is natural. After all they have been trapped in their homes for nearly six days with no relief coming their way. The anger is justified, but at the same point, there was little we could have done.”
“Our entire State machinery was submerged in water. It was Chief Minister Omar Abdullah who started a mini-secretariat from Hari Niwas along with a handful of officers. We got our act together and now the relief operation is in full swing,” the delegation said.
It sought help for the restoration of communication facilities at the earliest besides more medical teams, medicines and disinfectants to prevent the spread of any disease after the flood waters recede.
The delegation also sought Modi’s help in asking banks to provide timely financial support for reconstruction of the damaged private infrastructure.
“For this purpose, liberal housing loan products will need to be devised and rolled out for supplementing the Government effort,” it said.
Reconstruction of lost or damaged public assets on a permanent basis, rebuilding number of damaged water supply schemes, bridges, roads and buildings, telecommunications, hydraulic works and power infrastructure will need to be done on a fast track basis to restore delivery of public services.
“While reconstructing the assets, issues such as relocation and re-scoping of such assets will also need to be addressed. This will require financial support of a very special size and nature from the Central Government,” the delegation told the Prime Minister.
While stressing on early clearance of Rs 2,200 crore project for the ‘Flood Threat Management of river Jhelum’, the delegation sought assistance from the Centre for providing a team of Hydrologists and River Management Experts for conducting an in-depth study and analysis of the recent unprecedented floods.
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