Rahul demands relief package for J&K on lines of U’khand

01/10/2014

Jammu, Sept 30: Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi today said that the Centre should provide "big" relief package to flood-hit Jammu and Kashmir on the lines of Uttarakhand when the state was ravaged by the flash floods last year.
"There is a need for the Centre to provide relief package to JK on the pattern of the Uttarakhand," he said.
"Some time back there were floods in Uttarakhand. We have given a big package. We have talked to the Chief Minister (Omar Abdullah) that the same package should be given to Jammu and Kashmir," Rahul told flood-victims at a relief camp in Poonch border district today. A package of Rs 1,000-crore has been announced by the Centre for Jammu and Kashmir to cope with the destruction.
"All people should benefit from it (relief package). The losses and havoc you have suffered cannot be undone," Rahul said.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Rahul are on a two-day tour to the flood-hit state.
Asserting that the large question is how to rehabilitate flood-hit people of the state, Sonia Gandhi said that the state and Central governments will have to work together to meet the goal.
"The larger question is how to rehabilitate flood-hit and provide them space to live honourably," Sonia told reporters here today.
"Both, the state and Central government will have to work together (to rehabilitate affected people)," she said.
Sonia was flanked by Rahul, Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha, Ghulam Nabi Azad, AICC general secretary Ambika Soni and JK Congress chief Saif-uddin-Soz.
Before arriving in Jammu and distributing relief material to affected people of various Assembly segments, Sonia visited flood-hit people living in relief camps in Poonch district this morning.
The Congress chief also met people in Noushera belt of Rajouri district, where 67 people drowned after their bus fell and washed away in a swollen river on September 7.
Sonia and Rahul met the kin of bus mishap victims and expressed grief over the tragedy besides assuring full support to them.
When asked that most of the rescue and relief work was done by the Centre, Sonia said, "I do not play politics over these issue. Relief and rehabilitation come first. Everybody is trying their best".
Sonia and Rahul Gandhi concluded their two-day trip of the flood-ravaged state today.
During the trip, they were apprised about the death and destruction due to the unprecedented floods in the state, a party spokesman said.
At a meeting in Srinagar yesterday, they were told that the death toll in Kashmir was 84 and a colossal loss of Rs 1,00,000 crore was caused by the floods, the spokesman said.
At the meeting in Jammu today, they were told that the floods caused death of 184 persons in Jammu province, while property worth thousands of crores were lost. The leaders were also briefed on details of rehabilitation plan, he said.
Sonia and Rahul Gandhi expressed anguish after hearing about death and destruction in the state and expressed the need for urgency in the rehabilitation in view of the approaching winter season, the spokesman said.

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