Srinagar: Asserting that rescue and relief operations are being intensified, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Sunday hit out at rumour mongers for wrongly spreading that rescue operations were focused only on outsiders and VIPs and not residents of the Valley.
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Seeking to set the record straight, he told reporters that about 80,000 people of the Valley were rescued by the armed forces and NDRF from their marooned houses while 13,100 were airlifted out of Kashmir. "Rescue efforts continue apace. The sense that has been generated in Srinagar is that rescue effort has been focused only on tourists, VIPs and outside labour. When you look at numbers, nothing can be further from truth," Omar said.
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"Giving details, he said army alone has rescued some 59,000 people of Kashmir while the NDRF figure stands at 10,000. Besides, CRPF and others also rescued.
"The number of people flown out of Srinagar by helicopters is 13,100. That by itself suggests that the lion's share of rescue has been focused on residents of Kashmir who have not left the town. I think it is important to dispel that this entire rescue operation was focused on outsiders and no Srinagar resident was rescued," the Chief Minister said.
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"I want people of Srinagar to understand that our efforts are not focused purely on outsiders. We have rescued everybody whom we could reach," he said.
