Flood relief must focus on revival of livelihood: Rajan

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, May 28

The Governor, Reserve Bank of India (RBI), Raghuram Rajan, has said supporting the flood-affected people of J&K and reviving their livelihood should be at the forefront of any relief and rehabilitation effort.

He said empowering flood-affected people with means to sustaining their livelihood is a crucial aspect of rehabilitation.Rajan, accompanied by J&K Finance Minister Haseeb Ahmed Drabu, interacted with the local representatives of trade, business, entrepreneurs, agriculturalists and self-help groups in Pulwama district of South Kashmir today. The self-help groups mostly comprised women entrepreneurs, who are successfully running localised income-generating units.

He also interacted with flood-affected people of Pampore, Rajpora, Awantipora, Littar, Kakapora and other areas of Pulwama district. He said such type of calamities damage the economic pursuits of the affected people and as such warrant cooperation and active involvement of the government and financial institutions to restore normal commercial and economic activity.

The Finance Minister, Haseeb A Drabu, briefed the RBI Governor about the overall impact of flood and the measures taken by the government to provide relief to the affected people. He said the government as a relief measure for the flood-affected waived 50 per cent of KCC loans for the small and most vulnerable farmers who had an outstanding balance of Rs 1 lakh thus benefiting close to 2 lakh KCC card holders.

He said 89 villages of Pulwama district were badly affected during the floods and relief under the SDRF norms had already been extended to the affected people like rest of the state.