Doda: National Conference on Saturday expressed anguish and dismay over callousness of the PDP-BJP dispensation towards the cloudburst victims of Thathri in the Doda district, stating that none of its senior functionaries, least the Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti, found it prudent or dividend to visit the families that lost their dear ones in the natural calamity.
“Human lives have no value for the insensitive government, as remaining glued to power is its end objective”, Provincial President Devender Singh Rana said during his visit to the affected habitation along with former minister MLC Sajjad Ahmed Kichloo, District President Khalid Najeeb Suharwardhy and other senior leaders.
Rana urged the Chief Minister to find out some time and visit the area to provide some help and solace to the bereaved families and the sufferers of the natural calamity.
He said lack of political direction has taken toll of the administration that was seen wanting in meeting the challenge and showing minimum empathy towards the hapless victims. He sought immediate ex-gratia of Rs 25 lakhs to the next of kin of the dead and compensation of Rs 10 lakhs for every house damaged due to gushing flash floods triggered by the cloudburst.
The Provincial President and the accompanying leaders met the bereaved families and conveyed personal condolences on behalf of the National Conference President Dr Farooq Abdullah and Working President Omar Abdullah. Rana said their huge loss cannot be compensated and words were failing to express the enormity of the tragedy. The natural calamity has struck both young and the blooming children, who were caught unawares.
The National Conference leaders spent quite a time with the relatives and the mourners and expressed their solidarity with the bereaved families. They prayed for peace to departed souls and strength to survivors to bear their irreparable loss.
Rana and other leaders also met the relatives of the injured and prayed for their immediate recovery. They sought adequate compensation for the injured and expenses for their specialized treatment to be borne by the government.
The Provincial President also sought free rations and preliminary assistance to those whose houses have been damaged in the tragedy.
Interacting with media persons, Rana regretted that the coalition government has not drawn contingency plans to combat the challenge of monsoon. The experience of the previous years should have been a guiding factor for working out such plans, he said, adding that slight spurt in rains puts life out of gear everywhere. The scenario is quite dismal in the entire Jammu region, were most of the localities in urban areas and cities remain inundated with water for days together, posing a big health hazard for the residents.
To a question, he said that compensation in most of the cases of damages due to flash floods have not reached the sufferers so far. “This is unacceptable, as the government is duty bound to provide respite to those suffering from natural calamities.
Sajjad Ahmed Kichloo and Khalid Najeeb Suharwardhy also condoled the deaths and expressed solidarity with the bereaved families. They said the families were not alone at this hour of grief, as the entire National Conference cadre equally shared their pain and sufferings.
The National Conference delegation that visited the hapless area, among others, included State Vice Presidents Rattan Lal Gupta and Th Kashmira Singh, State Secretary Th Rachpal Singh, senior leaders Sheikh Abdul Rehaman, Qazi Jalal-ud-Din, Brij Mohan Sharma, Tanvir Ahmed Kichloo, Ch Haroon, Dr Chaman Lal, Sajjad Shaheen, Zaffarullah, Shabir Ahmed, Farooq Mir, Abid Magrey, Arif Mir, Mohammed Shamim, Imtiayaz Zargar, Murtaza Ali, Mohammed Ayub and Rumal Singh. (KNS)
