Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Sept 13: Soon after his arrival here today from the Union Capital, Dr. Jitendra Singh, Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Science & Technology and Earth Sciences, MoS in PMO, took off for a tour of the flood-hit areas of Pancheri,Saddal and Muttal in district Udhampur where so far 32 deaths have been reported and 30 are still missing.
He was accompanied by Deputy Commissioner of Udhampur, Yasha Mudgal,DIG Police Gareeb Das and other senior officers of administration.
Dr. Singh received detailed briefing on the rescue and relief measures carried out so far. He assured the District and Divisional Administration that there will be no dearth of relief material from the Centre and therefore, they should not exercise any limitation in providing relief to the affected population. However, he instructed the administration to make sure that the relief material being sent from New Delhi is promptly distributed to each and everyone who is affected, so that neither does the relief material go waste nor there is any complaint of the relief material not having been provided.
He said, the houses and property damaged as a result of flash floods in Panchari and other areas of Udhampur district will take long time to be reconstructed, but assured the people that the entire reconstruction and rehabilitation work will be carried out at Government expense. Wherever the district or the State administration finds itself hardpressed in terms of resources or budget, the Centre will be forthcoming with all necessary assistance to rebuild the lost structures, he said.
He also instructed the Divisional and District Administration that while all suitable medical aid is being provided by the Government agencies, wherever there is a need to shift any of the flood affected victims to a medical institute outside the State, he should be directly contacted and he will personally make sure that arrangements to shift such patients are made immediately free of cost.
After the completion of aerial survey, Dr. Jitendra Singh distributed relief material to the victims and also convened a meeting of the District Administration at Udhampur which was attended, among others, by the Deputy Commissioner, Senior Superintendent of Police and Senior District Officers.
The Minister issued clear-cut instructions that the administration should maintain a direct and regular contact with him and seek prompt assistance from him without indulging in much of file work or routine office procedures. This is an emergent situation and has to be tackled in an emergent manner with a professional approach without unnecessary hassles, he added.
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