MLA rues Govt apathy towards landslide victims

Excelsior Correspondent
BATOTE, Mar 11: The MLA, Ramban, Ashok Kumar has rued the failure of the local administration in providing  facilities of medical, potable water and electricity to more than 18 families which  were left homeless after  a landslide struck at ward number 3 of Rakhjudog Panchayat in Batote on March 4.
During his visit to the area,   the displaced families complained that there has been no power supply since the 63KVA transformer was damaged more than a month ago and the collapsing of poles recently, which has made their plight worse as they have to grope in dark while staying in tents in a wild animal infested and cold area.
The MLA was told that although a nearby Army camp had erected 8 tents on March 8 yet the 4 tents sanctioned by the civil administration were yet to be erected.
MLA Ashok rued the classification of 18 affected families into three different categories according to the extent of the damage to their houses irrespective of the fact that all those houses were unsafe to live-in.
He demanded the payment of Rs 5,000 to all the 20 families as he observed that two more houses have been damaged due to the sliding of land under them. He also demanded an immediate sanction of the due compensation for all of them from Red Cross.