Jammu and Kashmir floods ministers urge Narendra Modi to declare floods national calamity

Amid reports that Indian air force choppers and aircraft and army boats on rescue work were being pelted with stones, a group of ministers from J&K headed by state finance minister Abdul Rahim Rather met prime minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi on Saturday and sought a special rehabilitation package.

While thanking the defence forces and the Centre for coming to the rescue of the citizens of J&K, the group of ministers said the unprecedented floods and its aftermath should be declared a national calamity. They sought immediate provision of dry rations to the affected families. At present, a stock of 74,000 MT of rations is available but a large portion of it was not accessible.

"The IAF should immediately start airdropping ration kits comprising rice, dal, oil, sugar, tea leaves and dry milk to areas that are not accessible, at least till such time, the civil administration is not able to reach these areas," the ministers urged the PM.

They said while the state government will roll out financial assistance to the affected families from out of its SDRF window, the Centre should also work out a liberal and pragmatic financial package for the permanent and sustainable settlement and rehabilitation of affected households.

The ministers said the Centre should also take on the burden of compensating damage done to residential units. "Considering that residential houses in Kashmir are built at a cost much higher than in other parts of the country, and because winter is not far away, the Centre should ensure that at least Rs 5 lakh is paid to families whose houses were fully damaged, and Rs 2 lakh to those with partially damaged houses," the ministers told the PM.

They said that agriculture and horticulture losses should also be compensated fully, and that business units affected by the calamity should be provided financial assistance. "All these elements will need to be factored into a special rehabilitation package which also addresses the livelihood concerns of the people," the delegation of ministers said.

They said banks should step forward with financial support for the reconstruction of the damaged private infrastructure, and for this purpose, liberal housing loan products should be devised and rolled out for supplementing the government effort. The ministers said the ministry of finance should ask insurance companies to direct field surveyors and assessors to settle insurance ASAP.

Stating that a large number of damaged water supply schemes, bridges/roads and buildings, telecommunications, hydraulic works and power infrastructure will have to be rebuilt on fast track basis, they said such an exercise would require financial support of a very special size and nature from the Centre.

They also pleaded for immediate deputation of a central team of hydrologists and river management experts to conduct an in-depth study and analysis of the unprecedented floods and make suitable recommendations along with a detailed action plan to deal with such calamities in future.

The state government has already submitted a Rs. 2200 crore project for Flood Threat Management of river Jhelum which envisages the construction of a new 60,000 cusec capacity flood spill channel from Sangam in Baramulla upto Lake Wular, besides, resectioning and deepening of the existing 47 km, 25,000 cusec FSC and dredging of the Jhelum. "Moreover, we would require a large number of heavy-duty dewatering pumps to dewater low-lying areas which continue to be inundated," the ministers told the PM.

They also said that Haj flights which were affected due to the floods should be rescheduled from September 20, and additional flights should makde available. Meanwhile, the state government asked all government employees to report to duty immediately. Failure to do so, it said, would invite action under state government rules.

1) Omar meets all parties for solution
J&K chief minister Omar Abdullah chaired an all-party meeting attended by Mehbooba Mufti, Mohammed Yousef Tarigami, Saifudin Soz, Sajjad Ahmed Kichloo, Hakim Mohammad Yaseen, Ghulam Hassan Mir and Nazir Ahmed Wani on Saturday. The meeting resolved to rebuild lives, livelihood and public infrastructure in the flood ravaged state. It also conveyed its appreciation for support extended by the Centre, army , air force and NDRF. The leaders appealed to individuals and organizations within and outside the state to come forward to help the people of the state in every possible way.

2) New highway opened for transport
With the opening of Kishtwar-Sinthan-Anantnag highway, hundreds of flood survivors have been rescued and brought to Kishtwar. Around 300 flood survivors, mostly labourers from West Bengal, Jharkhand, UP, MP, Bihar, Utrrakhand, Odissa, and Nepal, were stranded in Srinagar because of the floods. They were brought to Kishtwar by a team of officers deputed especially for the purpose.