High hopes nurtured by the quake-hit residents of Kishtwar, Doda and Ramban districts were grounded after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi on Tuesday took off from Kishtwar without announcing any relief and rehabilitation package.
Since May 1, 2013 when the erstwhile Doda district was hit by a earthquake measuring 5.8 on the Richter scale, the local residents were waiting for the relief package from the Central Government to carry out repair works of their damaged houses.
The paltry amount of relief offered by the State under its State Disaster Relief Fund was earlier refused by the affected people anticipating comprehensive relief from the Central Government at par with the victims of the leh cloudburst.
The hopes of local residents were also raised by the Congress party legislators by conveying that a comprehensive relief package would be announced by the Prime Minister during his visit to Kishtwar on Tuesday.
Subsequently, a large number of people were present at the venue of the public rally in Chowgam ground in Kishtwar as they were hoping for the big announcement.
Surprisingly, the Prime Minister’s speech after the foundation-stone laying ceremony of 850-MW Ratle Hydro-Electric Project, grounded all their hopes as it made no mention of recent earthquake in the region or any relief package.
The Prime Minister after paying homage to the soldiers of the Indian Army, ambushed by suspected militants in Srinagar on Monday, said the entire nation stands united against terrorism and will not allow their nefarious designs to succeed.
On the completion of the mega project, the Prime Minister said, “I hope that every effort will be made to complete the project by its scheduled deadline of February 2018,” adding electricity generated from the Ratle project will bring prosperity to the people of Jammu & Kashmir.
The project was awarded to GVK Power which offered the lowest tariff for generating power. Interestingly, Union Health and Family Welfare Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad and Chief Minister Omar Abdullah had raised the issue of relief for the quake-hit population in their brief speeches, but it appears they too failed to convince the Prime Minister.
Azad even made an extra effort to convince the Prime Minister and the UPA chairperson by pointing towards multi-storey houses in the vicinity of the venue and said that these houses may look alright from outside but over 70-80 per cent houses in the area have developed cracks and need immediate repair.
Showing serious concern for the quake-hit people, Azad even mentioned that these houses may suffer permanent damages during rainy or winter season hence there is an urgent need to provide them adequate relief.
Chief Minister Omar Abdullah had earlier sought Rs 600-crore package for earthquake-hit families of erstwhile Doda district and said that the State Government has already submitted the proposal for this package to the Union Government. A few days ago, when the PM along with Sonia Gandhi, conducted an aerial survey of the ravaged Uttarakhand they had announced a package of over 1,000 crores. As per rough estimates, over 70,000 structures were affected and hundreds of school buildings and health centres were damaged across these three hilly districts in the region.
Earlier, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi was expected to visit the quake-hit areas before announcing the relief package but his visit was postponed on May 28 in the wake of Maoists attack in Chhattisgarh and then on June 15 following inclement weather conditions.
In his speech, CM Omar Abdullah had also raised the issue of transfer of Dulhasti Hydro-Electric Power Project to Jammu & Kashmir. “On this occasion, I would like to press the demand of the people of the State before the UPA chairperson and the Prime Minister for transfer of Dulhasti HEP to the State,” he said, while thanking them for their highest support to Jammu & Kashmir for its holistic development.
Omar said if a Government not friendly towards the State as the UPA Government and Sonia Gandhi are, be at the helm at the Centre, Jammu & Kashmir will be in difficulty. “As such, we seek highest economic support from the UPA Government to establish our own power projects and stand firm on economic ground,” the CM said.