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| Sonia catches bird’s eye view | | Kishtwar interiors assessed, Anantnag visit called off | |
Early Times Reporter
Jammu | Feb 22
In gesture which carried mere symbolism and hardly any practical utility, the Congress President Sonia Gandhi today had a bird’s eye view of the situation arising out of the snowfall in various areas of Jammu region.
Sonia had to visit some areas of South Kashmir as well but her visit was cut short due to bad weather which hampered the flight movement. Sonia, Patil and a team of home ministry officials wanted to assess the situation in areas affected by heavy snowfall.
After landing at Udhampur air base, the Congress president, Home Minister, a central team and Chief Minister left by helicopter to survey the snow-hit areas of Doda and Kishtwar districts in Jammu region.
The UPA chairperson first reached the chief minister's hometown Bhaderwah in Doda district to assess the losses due to recent heavy snowfall. She met a gathering of about 200 people amidst tight security. She shook hands with people and listened to them, giving assurance of all possible help.
After spending about 20 minutes in Bhaderwah, the team left for Marwah - a remote mountainous area in adjoining Kishtwar district that was hit by heavy snowfall and avalanches. At Marwah and Nawapachi, a large number of people assembled to greet Sonia Gandhi.
UPA Chairperson on this occasion said that she has come to assess the problems of the people of this hilly area, adding that she would take up the matter regarding relief package for such areas with the concerned ministries. She said that the government led by Mr. Ghulam Nabi Azad would take all measures required for relief and rehabilitation of the affected people.
She said that the difficulties of people due to poor road connectivity would also be appropriately addressed.
Earlier, Chief Minister while welcoming the UPA Chairperson and Union Home Minister Mr. Shivraj Patil said that Mrs. Gandhi has come to take stock of the problems of people living in these difficult areas. He said that Kishtwar is the largest tehsil in India as regards its area and the only tehsil which has poor road connectivity, adding that in some cases the people of this area have to foot the distance for 3 days to reach the district headquarter. He said the government has started the road project from Kokernag and the ration is now being sent from this road to this area. He said more than 300 people were airlifted through helicopter who were stranded due to heavy snowfall.
In the afternoon, UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi arrived at Technical Airport Srinagar where she was received by Union Minister for Water Resources and President JKPCC, Prof. Saif-ud-Din Soz, Chief Secretary B. R. Kundal, Divisional Commissioner Kashmir, Mehboob Iqbal and other senior civil and police officers.
The Divisional Commissioner gave presentation listing the detail of damage caused to infrastructure in power, R&B and PHE sectors due to the snowfall.
The UPA Chairperson was informed that state needs huge financial support for procuring new snow cutter machines to be able to promptly respond to such exigencies in future.
It was revealed that as of now the Mechanical Engineering department has only 4 snow cutters and 38 snow clearance machines. The State might also need additional resources to manage the floods which are imminent when the snow will melt, for providing potable drinking water to the people living in inaccessible areas, repair of roads and damaged infrastructure.
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