Centre would leave no stone unturned to come to the rescue and relief of the beleaguered people and Government of Jammu and Kashmir. The speed and alertness with which the Central Government is planning and monitoring these operations are unique in the history of disaster management in the country. Now large rescue work is coming to an end though of course search for dead bodies and missing persons will continue for some time more. But now relief work has been activated on fast track and the Cabinet Secretary is monitoring progress of relief work day by day even hour by hour. In a latest measure to accelerate fund raising campaign the Central Government took the unprecedented step of relaxing the rules governing the MPLAD funds enabling the Parliament members of both houses to contribute voluntarily to the relief fund for J&K flood sufferers.
There are 543 MPs and 250 RS members and each member is provided 5 crore rupees under MPLAD for spending on their constituencies. A large number of MPs and RS members approached the Speaker of Lok Sabha, Sumitra Mahajan to approach the Government for bringing about relaxation in rules so that they could make voluntary contribution to J&K relief fund. Consequently, the Government made relaxation in the rules and now any member desirous of contributing voluntarily can contribute up to 25 lakh rupees from his MPLAD fund direct to the J&K Government. It is expected that many MPs will be inclined to make frugal contribution because it was on their behest that the Government brought about relaxation in the rules. People in the country in general and those in J&K in particular will highly appreciate the MPs take deep interest in the humanitarian task of coming to the help of the unfortunate state that has witnessed unprecedented devastation. It can lay a precedent for the members of State Legislators also to contribute frugally and in this way the State of Jammu and Kashmir expects that it will have adequate funds at its disposal to reconstruct the state.
Now the crucial question is proper and need-based distribution of relief to the victims all over the State. The Supreme Court as well as the High Court of Jammu and Kashmir has drawn the attention of the State Government and of the Union Government not to focus only on the city of Srinagar but to move out to other districts of the valley where situation is as worse as in Srinagar. Cabinet Secretary has impressed upon the Secretaries of departments that are involved in relief and rescue work in J&K to monitor the progress their wings are making in bringing relief to the victims. He called the Chief Secretary of the State on telephone and emphasized on him that relief operations had to be undertaken on war footing. In fact the National Crisis Management Committee, headed by the Cabinet Secretary himself, also reviewed the relief and rehabilitation work in flood affected areas of J&K. Also there are some lurking apprehensions with the flood victims that relief and aid that is coming in bumper may not be delivered to genuine victims and go to those who do not really deserve it. It is for the state authorities to ensure that doubts like these are allayed. A fool proof mechanism has to be evolved through joint efforts of the Central and State Government functionaries with the objective that maximum number of families that really need support are taken care of. Relief must come most urgently before people suffer either of starvation or lack of medical assistance. Thus each and every person from different services has to move hastily to perform his role and mitigate the suffering of the people. It is almost two weeks that millions of people are in a state of desperation and helplessness. With courage and fortitude we have to overcome this catastrophe.
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