Deputy Chief Minister Dr. Nirmal Singh today visited the shelling affected areas in Samba and Kathua to interact with affected families and take on the spot appraisal of the situation. He also received brief from the district administration regarding the measures put in place to provide necessary help to the affected people.Dr Singh met the people of border areas at village Rajpura of block Ghagwal District Samba where he listened to their demands which were mainly related to compensation for damaged crop, waiver of farmer loans against crop, immediate requirement of bunkers, special recruitment drive for border youths, permanent camps during evacuation, availability of veterinary doctors for treatment of injured livestock and improved connectivity of border areas. Dr Singh directed the administration to maintain close coordination with people and to provide every help in case of any emergency. He also asked them to provide 24X7 helpline numbers of the control rooms to the people.Directing to put in place all basic facilities at the camps, Deputy Chief Minister asked the camp officers to remain present at the camps and ensure availability of ration, power supply, drinking water, security and sanitation. He further added that compensation of Rs. 500000(5 lakh) will be provided in case of death of individual during cross border firing and for livestock , compensation of Rs. 30,000 for death of milching animal, 3000 for death of Sheep/Goat/Pig and 25000 for Horse/Ox from CM relief fund will be provided. He further directed the SDM to ensure timely visit of veterinary doctors to take proper care of injured livestock.
Later, the Deputy Chief Minister visited village Kunthal of tehsil Hiranagar district Kathua and took stock of arrangements put in place by the district administration for the safety of the people .At Kunthal, Dy CM was accompanied by Vice-Chairman Jammu and Kashmir State Advisory Board for Welfare and Development of the Other Backward Classes (OBCs) Rashpaul Verma, MLA Hiranagr Kuldeep Raj , MLA Kathua Rajiv Jasrotia , DC Kathua Ramesh Kumar , SSP Kathua Pawan Parihar, SDM Hiranagar Sohan Lal , CEO Kathua and other district officers.DC Kathua Ramesh Kumar apprised the Dy CM of all the arrangements being made at the camps. It was further informed that 4 camps are functional with adequate arrangements and place for additional camps have been identified in case of any exigency. He also stated that besides food and lodging, fogging to prevent dengue and proper medical facilities are being provided to the border residents along with their live stock at various relief camps. Deputy Chief Minister stressed on close coordination among all concerned departments so that people are provided with all basic facilities at the camps. He further directed civil administration to strictly follow Standard Operating Procedure for evacuating people from border areas using Bullet Proof vehicles. He also assured full support of the government to the people of border areas and appealed them to cooperate with the administration during this tough time so that their security would be ensured and directed DC Kathua to make a detailed report of crop damaged due to firing and loss of livestock.