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| Not a single quake survivor living in tents: J&K Govt | | | Srinagar, Oct 8
Contradicting media reports that it has failed in providing shelter to earthquake-affected families, the Jammu and Kashmir government has claimed that not a single family was at present putting up in tents and some sort of structure such as temporary tin shed has been provided to them to face the vagaries of nature.
Officials said the state administration, faced with unprecedented challenge of rehabilitation of thousands of people affected by the devastating earthquake on October 8 last year, rose to the occasion and mobilised all possible resources and provided the much-needed relief to victims at a remarkable speed.
The response to the situation and the endeavour of the state government to rehabilitate the affected people was evident from the fact that as of now not a single family was at present putting up in tents.
The officials said the quake left 960 people dead and more then 400 wounded. More then 25,000 structures were fully damaged while 1,85,000 structures partially destroyed. The border tehsil of Uri in north Kashmir's Baramulla district was the worst affected with 672 deaths while 273 people were killed in Tangdhar area of frontier Kupwara district.
While the people of the country, cementing their emotional bonds with the victims of the state, rushed relief material in huge quanties to the affected people, they said, adding its distribution among the affected families before the onset of winter was accomplished by the administration and NGOs in a laudable manner.
The officials said prefabricated huts were put up in the quake-hit areas to provide shelter to some of the victims while others were lodged in tents.
They said a cash relief of Rs 1.35 lakh was pledged to each individual affected family, which is the highest compensation given so far in such natural calamities in the entire country.
Out of this, Rs 75,000 has been paid while the remaining Rs 60,000 would be disbursed in next few days to enable the survivors to complete the construction of their houses by December 31.
The officials said Rs 422 crore in cash have been disbursed while other kind of relief and special package provided to the affected.
''The fact that not a single person died in the affected areas in winter for want of a temporary shed speaks highly about the arrangements made by the government,'' they claimed.
Relief, including food grains, tents, clothing, blankets, medicines, utensils and other materials were rushed to the quake-hit areas with promptness.
The officials said the Centre extended liberal assistance and the concern shown by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi who herself visited people of the affected areas was commendable.
The mechanism of providing cash relief was made transparent and effective with special Lok Adalats giving the amount to victims, they said, adding not a single compensation claim has been contested and this showed the amount of efforts put in the whole exercise to ensure that aid reached to all the needy.
''Efforts are on to completely restore the damaged infrastructure such as schools, roads, health centres, lanes, drains and other public utility services. Power and water supply in most of the affected had been restored in the shortest possible time,'' the officials said.
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