New Delhi/Srinagar: The Centre on Saturday announced that the people in flood-ravaged Jammu and Kashmir would get free telecom services for a week on the BSNL network and a minimum of 60 minutes of free talk time on private telecom networks.
As flood waters receded, health worries mounted in the Kashmir Valley over the danger of the outbreak of waterborne diseases even as 1.5 lakh people were still marooned several days after the worst floods in 109 years left a trail of death and destruction.
A ministerial delegation the state met Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday and demanded that the floods in the state be declared a “national calamity.” The delegation, led by J&K finance minister Abdul Rahim Rather, while submitting a memorandum to the PM, urged that the Centre ensure smooth supply of food grains and other essential items and put forth several demands to help the state government.
“The Prime Minister was very positive and assured us complete support to overcome the crisis,” senior state minister Ali Mohammed Sagar, who was part of the delegation, said.
The situation on the ground in the state remained precarious as men in uniform, who continued relentless efforts to provide succour to flood victims, are being targeted.
Stone-pelters attacked their aircraft and boats. Some of the 80 IAF aircraft involved in relief and rescue operations across flooded Srinagar city have suffered minor damage on being targeted by stone-pelters, but the security personnel say they “won’t give up” till help reaches all.
