Kishtwar, Aug 16 (KNO): Calling the Kishtwar cloudburst a huge disaster, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Saturday announced the ex-gratia relief to the affected families.
He said that immediate relief has been disbursed among the affected families, and adequate teams have been deployed to conduct rescue operations.
“Chief Minister's Relief Fund will be utilised for them as well,” Omar said while speaking to reporters after meeting the affected families. He took a firsthand stock of the devastation caused by the cloudburst.
The CM, as per the news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO) said he can understand the feelings of the affected families, who want their beloved to be traced either alive or dead.
He said adequate teams, including NDRF, SDRF, Army, J&K Police and others, have been deployed to conduct the rescue operation, adding that a multi-pronged approach has been taken for the ongoing rescue operations.
“So far, the death count is around 60 and 70-80 are still missing. Reports quoting missing figures around 500 or 1000 are incorrect," he said, adding that the number of unidentified bodies is approximately 4-5.
It will take time to remove the rubble from the village, but the machinery will not be removed from here, Omar said. Once the rubble is removed, the rehabilitation process will start, he added.
Terming the Kishtwar cloudburst incident a huge disaster, the Chief Minister said the death toll is possibly going to increase in triple figures. "The death toll of more than 100 people is an incredible tragedy, affecting 100 families. From this, we will see what lessons are to be learnt,” he said.
On the demand to shift the affected families from their locations, Omar said they will consult a team of experts to ensure that they are not shifted to a place that will be more prone to such occurrences.
"The hilly areas like J&K, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand are prone to cloudbursts. We will consult a team of experts to make elaborate arrangements to prevent any such tragedies," he said.
Furthermore, as a measure of solidarity and immediate relief, the Chief Minister announced ex-gratia assistance from the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund.
He said the families of those who lost their lives would receive financial support of Rs 2 lakh each, while those who sustained severe injuries would be given Rs 1 lakh and those with minor injuries Rs 50,000.
Similarly, for structural damages, he announced Rs 1 lakh for fully damaged houses, Rs 50,000 for severely damaged ones and Rs 25,000 for partially damaged structures.
The Chief Minister, who reached Kishtwar on Friday evening, travelled by road to the affected village early Saturday morning. Upon his arrival, he was briefed by Indian Army personnel and used a virtual reality headset to assess the scale of destruction—(KNO)