Doing its bit to help the victims of flood-ravaged Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab Government on Friday dispatched one lakh packets of cooked food.
Out of these, 26,000 have been contributed by the Shiromani Gurudwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) and the rest have been donated by religious and social organisations of Rupnagar, SAS Nagar (Mohali), Amritsar and Jalandhar.
Besides, 600 blankets, 35 quintal of dry ration and clothes have been dispatched from Amritsar by special Indian Air Force (IAF) plane.
Expressing solidarity with the Government and the people of Jammu and Kashmir in their hour of crisis, Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal has assured the J & K Government all possible help and support.
Meanwhile, responding to an appeal issued by the Chief Minister, various voluntary, social and religious organisations, including the SGPC, have collected relief materials.
A spokesperson said that on the directions of Badal, Chief Secretary Sarvesh Kaushal was coordinating the entire relief operations from Punjab for the flood affected families in J & K. Principal Secretary Coordination Sanjay Kumar has been deputed as nodal officer.
Punjab's Resident Commissioner in Delhi K Shiva Parshad has been asked to coordinate with Defence Ministry and the J & K Government to assess the demand for relief materials to be sent from Punjab, the spokesperson said.
Deputy Commissioners of Amritsar and SAS Nagar (Mohali) have been asked to coordinate with airport authorities at Amritsar and Chandigarh to ensure timely air lifting of relief material to the J &K, he said.
The Deputy Commissioners of Amritsar, ludhiana and Mohali have also been appointed as nodal officers to facilitate the dispatch of relief material to the flood ravaged Jammu and Kashmir.
The spokesperson said that Amritsar DC would oversee relief activities of Amritsar, Tarn Taran, Jalandhar, Kapurthala, Faridkot, Gurdaspur, Nawanshahr, and Hoshiarpur whereas ludhiana DC would look after the districts of ludhiana, Patiala, Sangrur and Mohali DC would supervise flood relief activities of district Mohali, Fatehgarh Sahib and Ropar.
He said that DCs of all other districts have also been asked to depute nodal officer of their district at their end to act swiftly for collecting and dispatching relief material to the flood wrecked State.
Chief Minister has also appealed to the people of Punjab to donate generously for the flood victims.
“Tones of relief material from across the Punjab have been pouring in since the news of devastated flood fury in J & K had hit the headlines. Nodal officer would ensure hassle-free transit of this relief material destination in J and K. Senior Assistant at Punjab Civil Control Room Davinder Singh has been made the nodal officer at the state level,” said the spokesperson.
CONTROl ROOMS SET UP AT MOHAlI, AMRITSAR
Punjab Government has set up controls rooms at Mohali and Amritsar to enable the various social, voluntary and religious organisations besides other NGOs for dispatching relief material to flood stricken valley in J&K.
Organizations, desirous of sending relief material, have been asked to contact Mohali Control Room at 0172-2220152. ADC (General) Poonamdeep Kaur (94140-08686) has been made overall in-charge, while Phase-VIII Gurdwara Amb Sahib and Dispatch Centre at Chandigarh Airport have been made collection centres under the supervision of Mohali SDM lakhvir Singh (94172-50172) and Dera Bassi SDM Sanjeev Kumar (98146-43678) respectively.