Early Times Report
Poonch, Sept 16 : Having concluded his tour of the flood-hit areas of Udhampur and Reasi Districts, Dr. Jitendra Singh, Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Science & Technology and Earth Sciences, MoS in PMO, DoPT,Space and Atomic Energy, today undertook an extensive survey of flood-hit areas in the districts of Poonch and Rajouri. He interacted with the inmates of relief camps at Surankote, received briefing from the District Commissioners of two districts and attended a condolence ceremony at Nowsherra to mourn the deceased members of a marriage party whose bus had got drowned in the flash floods. Responding to a demand from certain quarters for a special flood relief package for Jammu & Kashmir, Dr. Jitendra Singh said that the offer of relief assistance from the Centre is much more than any "package" and therefore, by demanding a package we would only be restricting ourselves from receiving unlimited help being offered by the Government of India. At the District Headquarters at Poonch, Dr. Jitendra Singh was presented a power point resume of the rescue and relief operations by the District Development Commissioner, Chowdhary Hussain Malik in the presence of DIG Police, Ashok Kumar, MLA Jaan Mohammad, MLC Shahnaz Ganai and others. Dr. Singh said that the Deputy Commissioners of both Rajouri and Poonch districts have put forward requirement for more tents which he will check with Divisional Commissioner, Jammu and Union Home Secretary, because the Disaster Management Division and the Border Management Division in the Union Home Ministry have already started the exercise of providing sufficient number of tents to the State.
Dr. Singh said that the loss of cattle / animal life reported from District Poonch is 979 and he has asked the District Administration for a detailed assessment of the compensation to the owners. Similar assessment can also be done in relation to the damage to the crops, he added. |
