Damage Caused by Deluge in J&K
As per the information received from the State Government, 282 humans and 61,326 cattle have been lost, 6.48 lakh ha. cropped area affected and 2.53 lakh houses have been reported damaged due to floods/ landslides during 2014 in Jammu and Kashmir.
With regard to the relief, it is mentioned that State Governments concerned are initially required to undertake relief operations of immediate nature in the wake of natural calamity from the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF). In case of a calamity of ‘severe nature’, additional assistance is extended from the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) after following the laid down procedure. Financial assistance is towards relief and not for compensation of loss as suffered.
The Government of India had provided all possible logistics assistance like deployment of the Army, Indian Air Force, Navy, National Disaster Response Force for search and rescue operations, providing sufficient food, water, medicines, tents, blankets, dewatering pump, water purifying systems etc. to the State Government.
As regards the September, 2014 floods, the Government of Jammu & Kashmir had submitted a memorandum projecting demand of Rs. 43959.56 crore for the floods of 2014. Out of that, the State claimed that State Government had Rs. 1000 cr available under SDRF. The State had requested for providing Rs. 1926.11 crore from NDRF and a special package of Rs. 41033.45 cr for items, which were not covered by norms of NDRF. Upon receipt of the memorandum from the State Government of J & K, an Inter-Ministerial Central Team (IMCT) visited the affected areas of the State from 17th to 19th October 2014 for an on-the-spot assessment of damages caused by the flood of 2014 as per norms of NDRF. The IMCT has sought some additional information from the State Government in order to finalize its report. The report of the IMCT will be considered by the Government as per laid down procedure immediately after it is submitted.
In order to support the affected people of Jammu & Kashmir, the Government of India has released an amount of Rs. 94.33 crore, in advance, from SDRF on 5-11-2014. Besides, the Government of India has released Rs. 1000 crore under Special Plan Assistance (SPA) on 22.10.2014 to the State for flood relief and rehabilitation. In addition, an amount of Rs. 570 crore for rebuilding of damage houses and Rs. 175 crore for damaged hospitals has been announced from the Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund.
This was stated by Minister of State for Home Affairs Shri Kiren Rijiju in a written reply to Shri Sanjay Raut in the Rajya Sabha today.
****
YKB/BK/PK/RS