Grant Rs 1.60 lakh crore package to Jammu, Deputy CM urges Modi

Jammu and Kashmir Deputy Chief Minister Surinder Choudhary on Friday urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah to grant double the Rs 80,000 crore package, announced after the 2014 floods in Kashmir, to the Jammu region.

He said this is the worst catastrophe in 100 years that Jammu has faced, resulting in widespread destruction.

“The damage is so immense that today I will appeal to the prime minister and the home minister of the country to announce a major package, because this time Jammu has witnessed an even greater floods than Kashmir in 2014, which has caused massive destruction. A package worth more than Rs 80,000 crore is needed here. And this package should directly reach people’s bank accounts,” Choudhary told reporters here.

Choudhary, who undertook a whirlwind visit of flood-affected areas in Jammu, said, “Our demand is that this time, Jammu province, which has suffered a fresh tragedy due to floods, should be given double the package of what was announced for Kashmir in 2014.”

The deputy chief minister said that when floods struck Kashmir in 2014, there was a PDP-BJP government in Jammu and Kashmir and the Modi government in Delhi. “At that time, a package of Rs 80,000 crore was announced. But the money given by the Central government never reached the people. Even today, if you ask them, they (people) say they did not receive it. This time, the relief amount that is formulated should go directly into their accounts.” Asserting that floods triggered by heavy rains in Jammu are the worst kind of tragedy, he said a huge loss has occurred. “Whether you look at the cities or the villages, scenes of devastation are visible everywhere. Thousands of kanals of land in villages have been destroyed. People have lost their cattle and even their homes.”

He further said that the conditions in towns and villages are such that people have no food to eat, no drinking water, and no electricity. “Everything has been washed away in this storm. The elders say that such a storm has hit Jammu after 100 years. Compensation is necessary. The chief minister has already visited, and now I am also visiting as per his directions.” Taking a dig at the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) for the damage caused to roads due to “poor quality of work”, he said, “I myself am reviewing the situation and want to say that today the credibility of the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) is also at stake.” He said they must answer why bridges are collapsing repeatedly on the national highway. “First, one bridge collapsed, and now another has sunk. NHAI should call its designers, structural engineers, and architects to explain why this is happening. Designs are being made in Delhi without proper study on the ground, which is why bridges are collapsing. Now we have started doubting NHAI’s functioning.”