Fayaz Bukhari
Srinagar, Oct 22: Prime Minister Narendra Modi is arriving for a one day visit to Kashmir valley tomorrow to spend Diwali with the flood victims of the State and security on the occasion has been beefed up.
Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) of Science & Technology and Earth Sciences, MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, , who arrived here today said that Prime Minister is keen on rehabilitating the flood victims of Jammu and Kashmir.
Dr Jitendra Singh told reporters here this afternoon that the Centre is very much concerned about the flood victims of the State. He said Prime Minister is personally receiving briefings about the situation on day to day basis. “His visit tomorrow proves how much concerned he is about people of Jammu and Kashmir,” he said.
The Minister rejected suggestions that Modi was visiting Kashmir with an eye on the forthcoming Assembly elections. “If there were elections, should he not come? And if he had not come, then there would be criticism that why he did not come,” he added.
Dr Jitendra said the Prime Minister’s visit has not been scheduled keeping any particular section or community in mind. “He was here few days before the Eid also. Insha Allah, he will come again on Eid next year”, he added.
“It is a good thing that he will come here and spend the Diwali in the Valley. This is happening perhaps for the first time in Independent India”, the Minister said.
Dr Jitendra held the prolonged rescue operation responsible for delay in rehabilitation of the flood victims. “Rehabilitation follows rescue. When the rescue part is prolonged, when the rescue operation is more onerous, the rehabilitation gets delayed accordingly”, he said.
When asked about the quick response of the Central Government to 2005 earthquake sufferers as compared to last month’s floods, the Minister said there was no comparison between magnitude of the two disasters. “I don’t think there is any comparison. This is an unequal comparison. The magnitude of devastation caused by the floods is many times that of the earthquake. The kind of response by the present Government is unprecedented to floods,” he added.
Dr Jitendra said that there is no delay in providing succor to the flood victims. He said that rehabilitation process is on and it will be done sooner than later.
The Minister said dealing with the aftermath of floods is a three-phased progress and in normal practice, the rehabilitation stage will come only after the relief phase is over. “When the rescue is only a day-long, the rehabilitation goes on immediately. The first phase is rescue, then relief and rehabilitation. We are, I may say with responsibility, still in the relief,” he said.
Dr Jitendra said that Government will take decision on the memorandum submitted by the State Government for seeking aid in due course of time. “There are some administrative procedures to be followed and it will happen in due course of time,” he added.
The Minister said that the flood victims will be compensated once the assessment is completed. “Certainly. Everybody is on work …nobody is sitting idle. But the assessment has to be done before it is actually handed out. The things are moving in a sequential manner,” he said.
“As far as BJP is concerned, we were ready yesterday, we are ready today and we are ready anytime for the elections. We have no objections,” said Dr Jitendra Singh.
The Minister refused to comment on the timing of the elections and said that it is the prerogative of the ECI. “When elections are to be held, it is the prerogative of the Election Commission of India. It is an independent institution. It will not be fit for me to comment on that. If anyone does, he must be wiser than us,” he added.
Dr Jitendra arrived here this morning to review the arrangements for PM’s visit. It may be recalled that Dr. Jitendra had earlier also spent two days in Srinagar before he left for New Delhi yesterday to receive a briefing about the Prime Minister’s visit.
Soon after his arrival here today, the Minister held meeting closeted with senior officers of Defence and State Administration. They discussed finer details about the venue, duration and composition of different organizations and profile of persons scheduled to meet the PM during his stay in Srinagar.
Later, the Minister also called on the Governor, NN Vohra and discussed the agenda of the PM’s meeting with different groups tomorrow. He also went around the venue earmarked for the PM’s interaction with various delegations.
Dr Jitendra virtually undertook a “dress rehearsal” of the entire sequence of events that will take place tomorrow at Srinagar. He also met representatives of certain social groups and civil society who may like to express their views to the PM tomorrow.
It is pertinent to mention here that this is for the first time in the history of independent India that a Prime Minister will be celebrating the festival of Diwali in Kashmir Valley and that too, in the most difficult circumstances in the aftermath of unprecedented floods.
When asked by the media, Dr. Jitendra Singh said, this only indicates the intensity of concern that the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi personally has for the people of Jammu & Kashmir.
Prime Minister is holding meeting with the State administration at airport soon after his arrival in Srinagar to get firsthand account of the losses suffered by the people in the State in flood and review the progress of relief and rehabilitation. He will then meet various delegations of social and mainstream political parties.
Security has been beefed in Kashmir as separatists called for a general strike tomorrow against the PM visit. Police and paramilitary forces have been deployed in strength and are conducting random checking of vehicles at dozens of places in the city and elsewhere.
Special checking points have been set up at various places in the city including entry and exit points as a precautionary measure to maintain law and order. The move was aimed at foiling any attempt by militants to strike in the city ahead or during the Prime Minister’s visit, he said.
Hardline Hurriyat Conference leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani called for strike against the PM’s visit. He said: “Government of India acted as the mute spectator amid worst ever floods in Kashmir and did nothing to mitigate the sufferings of the affected on ground…we will not allow anyone to rub salt into our wounds.”
In the meantime a high level meeting was held at Police Headquarters (PHQ) here this afternoon to review the security arrangements ahead of PM’s visit.
The meeting was chaired by Director General of Police (DGP), K Rajendra Kumar, besides senior officers from police, civil, intelligence and central police paramilitary forces were also present in the meeting.
During the meeting all security arrangements of Prime Minister’s visit including the routes and locations were discussed in threadbare. He stressed for sanitizing all routes, the VVIP is passing through during his visit. Deployment of manpower from different forces and intelligence agencies was also discussed in the meeting.
Addressing the meeting, Rajendra stressed for greater synergy among different agencies and forces being deployed for the security of VVIP. He said that the common strategy should be adopted to ensure the smooth visit of Prime Minister.
While discussing traffic arrangements, the DGP asked for diversion of public transport to alternate routes, so that common commuters do not suffer due to security reasons. He also asked make the railway police more vigilant in order to foil any ill design of anti-national elements.
The DGP emphasized upon the officers involved in the security to keep an eye on the activities of suspicious elements, who always try to find an opportunity to disrupt the peaceful atmosphere in the State.
Officers present in the meeting, representing different agencies, briefed about the required security arrangements put in place in connection with VVIP visit. They gave a detailed chart of deployment of personnel for the visit and proper briefing have been made to the personnel put on security duties at different areas and location. The DGP asked to utilize the services of security gadgets including CCTV cameras en-route the visit and locations. He said that comprehensive communication network has been established to coordinate among the agencies involved in the security.
Among others, the meeting was attended by Special DGP CRPF, R C Tayal, ADGP (Security), V K Singh, IG BSF Kashmir, IG CRPF (Ops) Kashmir and other police and Central para-military officers.
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