Why isn't flood rehabilitation a priority now? Omar asks PDP, Centre

Tours Beerwah constituency

5 Dariya News

Srinagar 21-Jan-2015

National Conference Working President Omar Abdullah on Wednesday asked Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the Central Government to explain the rationale of demanding early elections to allegedly mitigate the sufferings of the flood victims in the backdrop of recent statements where both PDP and BJP leaders have said that "Government formation can wait as that they were in no hurry".

On an extensive tour of Beerwah Constituency on Wednesday, Omar reminded the Central Government of their excuses of citing the alleged mismanagement of money meant for flood victims as an alibi for their apathy towards the flood victims who were and continue to be in need of massive relief and rehabilitation efforts from the Central Government. "Now when the State is under the direct control of the Central Government, I fail to understand why the proposed 44,000 crores Flood Relief Package submitted by the State Government to the Central Government remains an object of contemptuous neglect. What is stopping the Central Government now to match its efforts with its words? Who do they have trust issues with now? These are answers that hundreds and thousands of flood victims are keenly awaiting a reply to", Omar Abdullah said while addressing his constituents in Atina, Gundepora and Sonpah in Beerwah.

"At a time when the people of Kashmir have shown extraordinary resilience and character in uniting to fight against an unprecedented natural calamity, the attitude of neglect and indifference shown by the Central Government is extremely unfortunate. Enormous efforts need to be undertaken to rebuild thousands of homes, rebuild public infrastructure, rejuvenate our Tourism sector, our handicrafts sector and this callous approach towards these immediate needs is shocking to say the least", Omar Abdullah said.

"A lot of flood-victims will be able to survive the harsh winter because of the money released for rent for their alternate housing that was released from the CM's relief fund. The State Government did everything possible with whatever resources it had. This natural calamity required a massive post-flood response from the Central Government in terms of immediate reconstruction of nearly a hundred thousand damaged houses, reviving devastated businesses and aiding in the reconstruction of public and private infrastructure. Rather than rising up to the occasion, some people chose to play politics over this collective misery instead. A typical example is how PDP played politics over the floods by asking for immediate early elections to mitigate the sufferings of the flood-victims only to tell us later that PDP was in no hurry to give the people of this State a Government", NC Working President Omar Abdullah further added while speaking at various places in Beerwah on Wednesday.Omar said that it would be a grave attempt by PDP to humiliate and disrespect the flood-victims by pretending that PDP was apparently bargaining on the flood-relief package in the process of Government Formation. "This is PDP's way of seeking moral legitimacy behind smokescreens. Flood relief is a right of the flood-victims and PDP should know that this right cannot be exploited for its partisan interests,” Omar added.