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Modi announces Rs. 1,000 cr aid for J&K
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SME Times News Bureau | 08 Sep, 2014
Prime Minister Narendra Modi Sunday visited flood-ravaged Jammu and
Kashmir to review the situation and announced special assistance of
Rs.1,000 crore while Chief Minister Omar Abdullah asked people not to
panic and assured help will reach them soon.
Modi, who Sunday
undertook an aerial survey of the flood-affected Jammu and Srinagar
regions along with army chief Gen. Dalbir Singh Suhag, also offered
assistance to Pakistan for flood relief operations in
Pakistan-administered Kashmir, but Islamabad said its relief and rescue
operations were proceeding effectively.
The Indian Air Force
(IAF) meanwhile began a massive aerial relief and rescue operation in
flood-affected regions, where over 100 people have been killed as well
as property and infrastructure badly damaged.
The Rs.1,000 crore
package announced for the flood-hit state was besides a Rs.2 lakh
compensation from the Prime Minister's Relief Fund for the kin of each
dead and Rs.50,000 each for the seriously injured.
Modi termed the current crisis - the worst-floods in the state in six decades - a "national level disaster".
Abdullah,
who also met the prime minister, promised the flood-hit people that
help will reach them soon and asked them not to panic.
"This is
an unprecedented situation and we are doing the best we can under the
circumstances. Please don't panic, we will reach you, I promise," the
chief minister wrote on his Twitter account.
The floods continued
to wreak havoc in Kashmir Valley with flood waters entering many more
residential areas here Sunday. Radio transmission in the Kashmir Valley
was cut off after flood waters inundated the transmitter installations
of state-run Radio Kashmir in Srinagar, officials said.
The
floods, which hit the Valley Tuesday, breached a Jhelum River embankment
Saturday night, submerging Shivpora, Indira Nagar, Kursoo Rajbagh,
Jawahar Nagar, Gogjibagh, Hari Singh High Street, Batmaloo and other
civil lines areas.
The situation in south Kashmir districts of
Anantnag, Kulgam and Pulwama has assumed the proportions of an
unparalleled natural calamity as residents in these districts have never
experienced in their living memory.
Thousands of people in more
than 700 villages have abandoned their homes and livestock and shifted
to higher reaches to escape the fury of rising waters.
Modi said
the army, air force and the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) were
cooperating with the state to expedite relief work.
He said
medical and other assistance would be provided on an urgent basis, and
in view of damage to houses, efforts were on to arrange tents.
"Many
houses have been destroyed. We are speeding work to provide 5,000 tents
in flood-hit areas," he said, adding the government was prepared to
provide relief to people as the weather becomes colder.
The
government has directed officials to repair roads leading to Ladakh so
that food and other livelihood supplies could be sent before the state
gets cut off at the onset of winter.
The prime minister also offered to extend all possible help to the flood-affected people in Pakistan-administered Kashmir.
"India
will never hesitate from doing work of humanity," Modi said, and also
appealed to all states to provide assistance to Jammu and Kashmir.
He also wrote to his Pakistani counterpart Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif offering help if required.
"My
heart goes out to the affected people and my deepest sympathies are
with them and their families. In this hour of need, I offer any
assistance that you may need in the relief efforts that will be
undertaken by the government of Pakistan. Our resources are at your
disposal wherever you need them," he said.
Official sources in
Islamabad however said that Nawaz Sharif Sunday undertook an aerial
survey of flood-hit areas in Pakistan-administered Kashmir and
appreciated the rescue and relief operations underway.
"Our Prime
Minister Nawaz Sharif had aerial survey of Azad Kashmir
(Pakistan-administered Kashmir) and other flood-hit areas today
(Sunday). Our rescue and relief operations are proceeding effectively," a
Pakistan government source said. Meanwhile, the IAF announced
it has sent a C-17 Globemaster aircraft from Delhi to Awantipur with
RAMT (Rapid Action Medical Team), two IL-76 aircraft with medical
supplies and boats and another IL-76 with teams of National Disaster
Response Force personnel.
Three C-130J Super Hercules special
operations aircraft have been pressed into service to transport boats
from Pune and Gandhinagar to Srinagar and blankets and tents from Kanpur
to Jammu and Srinagar, it said.
A total of 26 IAF helicopters are also operating in the floot-hit regions.
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