Punjab Government on Wednesday sent the first consignment of relief material loaded in 24 trucks for the flood victims of Uttarakhand tragedy.
The consignment including 100 tonnes rice, 20 tonnes atta, 18 tonnes sugar, 75 tonnes milk powder besides 15,000 blankets and 14,000 woolen clothes, was flagged off by Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal on Wednesday from SAS Nagar (Mohali).
Talking to the media persons on the sidelines of flagging ceremony, Badal said he had recently called on Uttarakhand Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna to ascertain their requirement of relief material for the flood victims in this hour of crisis.
He said his Government was committed to provide succor to the people of Uttarakhand, who had been rendered homeless due to recent flash floods in the valley thereby keeping alive the traditions of Punjab’s bonhomie to help the needy in difficult times.
Badal reiterated that the State Government would further dispatch consignments of 1,000 tonnes of rice, 500 tonnes of atta, 80 tonnes of sugar besides 10,000 blankets and woolen clothes each, as and when required by the Uttarakhand Government due to lack of adequate storage facility there. “State Government has already announced a grant of Rs 10 crore for the reconstruction of Kedarnath temple and the damaged infrastructure at Gobindghat,” he added.
Describing the devastating flash floods in Utatrakhand as “national tragedy”, Badal expressed his complete solidarity with the people of the Himalayan State and said the Punjab Government has deputed several senior civil and police officers besides deploying a fleet of nearly 300 buses or small vehicles for timely evacuation of people standard in the valley.
Chief Minister further said he would soon call on the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to hand over the State’s contribution towards the Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund (PMNRF). Regarding the missing persons from Punjab in Uttarakhand, Badal said that Bahuguna had given a list of 26 persons who had gone missing, when he called on him at Dehradun last week adding that efforts were afoot to trace those persons or establish their whereabouts with the help of Uttarakhand Government.