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| Gadkari loses 'cool' as Omar Govt fails to present damage assessment report | | 'No aid will come in haphazard manner, JK has to follow system' | | Fazal Khan
SRINAGAR, Sept 27: Even 21-days after floods inundated Kashmir Omar Abdullah led Government in Jammu and Kashmir has not prepared any damage assessment report.
Sources told Early Times that State Government officials and the Chief Minister faced huge embarrassment earlier this week when Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari visited Kashmir along with his team.
Gadkari, according to the sources, during a high level meeting, which was also attended by the Chief Minister, asked the officials to show him the damage assessment report. "One of the officials placed a few papers before the Union Minister and informed him that it's the preliminary report," said a source.
He said, "A top official presenting a few papers annoyed the Union Minister and he lost his cool."
The source said, Gadkari took strong exception of state Government not assessing the damage and its failure to activate men and machinery even after so many days.
Sources said that Gadkari instructed his team members to take the charge of damage assessment and ensure that report is prepared without wasting any time.
A top official while talking to Early Times said that state Government has not been able to prepare the damage assessment report due to the lack of man power and damage to official machinery.
Sources said that Centre won't release the relief amount sanctioned by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi till state Government assess the losses and comes up with a real picture. "Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his visit to JK had announced that floods in the state would be declared as national calamity but till date formal order in this regard has not been issued," they said.
If Government of India declares the JK floods as national calamity then the people whose houses have been destroyed would get Rs 5 lakh compensation and special packages would be announced for the businessmen and farmers who have suffered extensive damage.
Sources said that Centre is waiting for the state Government to make the first move and come up with a detailed report about the losses.
State Government, according to the sources, has asked the Government of India to release some amount initially so that people who have suffered losses are given some cash till the assessment is completed.
Nitin Gadkari, who besides being the Union Minister is also senior BJP leader, during his recent visit to Kashmir, is understood to have made it clear to the state Government that GOI is ready to provide all possible help but state has to follow the system and has to ensure that all the victims get the aid. "Nothing will be done in a haphazard manner," Gadkari is understood to have said.
Pertinently, State Government had announced that people whose houses have been destroyed during floods would be given Rs 70,000 initially. However, Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha and senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad recently asked people not to accept Rs 70,000. "We want GOI to announce the recent floods as national calamity and provide all possible aid to the sufferers. We won't accept Rs 20,000, Rs 40, 000 and Rs 70,000 formulas," he had said.
A senior BJP leader said that GOI is ready to do whatever it can but the state Government's "lackadaisical" approach is delaying the rehabilitation process. |
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