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| People do need relief, but not through NC-Cong coalition Govt | | Unpopularity, lack of trust | | Rustam
Jammu, Oct 11: The State Cabinet under the chairmanship of beleaguered Chief Minister Omar Abdullah had on Friday approved what it called "special financial package". The same would be submitted to the Government of India for immediate consideration. The NC-Congress coalition Government that failed the people of the state and is being looked down upon by them would want New Delhi to sanction a financial package to the tune of approximately Rs. 44, 000 cr for providing relief to the flood affected people, as also for their proper rehabilitation and restoration of the damaged infrastructure across Jammu province and Kashmir valley.
Besides, the State Cabinet also decided to approach the Union Home Ministry for releasing funds to the tune of Rs. 1947.20 cr under National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and request the concerned Ministry at the Centre to declare "tax holiday for the J&K State for a period of 10 years to help in the revival of the State's economy". Not just this, the State Cabinet, in addition, would also urge the Government of India to direct all banks/financial institutions for "re-scheduling of loans/granting of moratorium and remission of interest during the moratorium period and providing of fresh loans in favour of flood affected people". Besides, the State Government would urge New Delhi to "waive of loans availed by an individual upto Rs. 3 lakh and interest subvention of 5% on the loans already raised after completion of the moratorium period".
The financial package that the State Cabinet approved includes payment of ex-gratia relief against the loss of private structures to the tune of Rs. 9 lakh for fully damaged pucca house, Rs. 6 lakh for fully damaged kucha house, Rs. 4 lakh for partially damaged kucha/pucca house, including boundary walls and Rs. 1 lakh for other structures". According to the proposed package, the affected families whose houses were fully damaged could also avail housing loan upto Rs. 20 lakh at 4% interest only, as the balance interest to be charged by the banks shall be borne by the Government. The package also says that the "re-payment shall be worked out up to 10 years with a moratorium of two years initially"; that "those people whose houses were fully damaged could shift to a hired accommodation nearly for 1 year till they rebuild their houses" and that "the rent of this 1 year shall be reimbursed to them by the Government".
The proposed package has also talked about small shopkeepers. It says "small shopkeepers not registered under VAT will be given loan up to Rs. 5 lakh and the interest rate will be 2% interest per annum only". As for the registered dealers with the sales tax authority, they would be entitled to get loan up to Rs. 20 lakh at 4% and loan upto Rs. 50 lakh at 6% per annum. The proposed package, in addition, envisages "financial help and concessions for business community, agriculture and horticulture sector, transport sector, tourism sector, industrial sector, artisans, and other sectors". Not only this, the proposed financial package also suggests that the affected people would be compensated for the loss of land due to flash floods and landslides @50 per cent of the value of the land in that area, as notified for stamp duty by the respective District Valuation Committees, headed by the concerned Deputy Commissioners, in the agriculture sector".
It needs to be underlined that the devastating floods last month caused huge loss in Jammu province and parts of Kashmir valley. According to preliminary assessment, over 15 lakh families in as many as 5794 villages were adversely impacted by rains, floods and landslides; nearly 344607 structures suffered damages; 90 thousand cattle/sheep perished; the crop loss was to the tune of 6.52 lakh Ha of land; and the loss to the public/private infrastructure just unimaginable.
The affected people do need adequate funds for their rehabilitation both in Jammu province and Kashmir valley and their needs and requirements needed to be met forthwith. That's not the issue. The real issue is the distribution of the Indian taxpayers' money among the affected people. The general view in the state is that the "NC-Congress coalition would not only misappropriate the funds like in the past, but would also misuse the funds so received from the centre to promote their vested political interests". All the political parties, including the PDP and the BJP, have expressed the view that the relief and rehabilitation work just cannot be entirely left to the care of the irresponsible, callous and corrupt outgoing NC-Congress coalition Government and that both the Centre and the State should work together so that things were properly monitored and relief reached the genuinely affected people. The view of the people is no different. They also have no faith in the NC-Congress coalition and they have repeatedly suggested that the Centre should handle the entire relief and rehabilitation work. These are positive suggestions. The Government of India would do well to evolve a foolproof mechanism to ensure that the taxpayers' money was properly utilized for mitigating the hardships of the affected people. |
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