Srinagar, May 15 (KNS): Senior Congress leader and former Union Minister Prof. Saifuddin Soz Friday said it is tragic that the central Government has not as yet made up its mind to provide relief to 2014 flood victims.
The floods had been described by many credible agencies as the worst ever in Kashmir history. It is true that Mr. Modi visited Kashmir when the floods occurred and made eloquent statements but nothing more has happened all these nine months. The then State Government estimated the requirement of relief to the tune of Rs. 44,000 crores and the New Govt. also adopted that figure and has been trying to obtain relief, he said in a statement to KNS.
Many Central Government agencies visited the flood affected areas independently and found that the Kashmiris had suffered immense losses and miseries and highly placed sources confirmed that these agencies made honest reporting to the Central Govt. During the floods and immediately after, the people of Kashmir had appreciated the efforts of the Army, Central Disaster Management Force and other institutions. So grudging is the response of central Govt. to Kashmir situation that even 700 crores of the total amount of Rs. 1500 crores released for construction of hospital buildings have been linked to Adhaar Cards, he said.
The people of Kashmir are puzzled to see the contrast between the attitude of the UPA to the flash floods of Utrakhand and the attitude of Modi Govt towards the victims of September, 2014 floods in Kashmir. Even the Central Govt. agencies had found that Uttrakhand was a difficult situation but not equal in size and effect to the devastative floods in Kashmir. The UPA Govt. had accepted the total demands of Uttrakhand Govt. for Rs. 12000 crores and it had released Rs. 8000 crores within a month. The assurance for releasing Rs. 4000 crores more was also there, but the Govt. changed. Kashmiris are also aghast as to why representatives of the Civil Society such as peoples Council for Civil Liberties and Human Rights Commission did not raise their voice against the attitude of the Central Govt. towards the people of Kashmir. Such institutions could also raise the voice as to why Modi Govt. didnt allow International Development and Aid Agencies such as Oxfam; Islamic Relief World Wide; Save The Children; US Aid; Christian Aid; Action Aid and others were not allowed to organize distribution of relief in Kashmir, he added.
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