Azad writes to PM seeking speedy rescue, relief in J & K

Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad today wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking to further speed up relief and rescue operations in flood-affected Jammu and Kashmir.
He also shot off letters to the Defence, Home and Health Ministers, the Army Chief, IAF head and the Union Home Secretary in this regard.
A release here said Azad sought increase in the number of helicopters so that lakhs of people stranded on the rooftops of their houses are shifted to safer places.
Azad also urged the government to put in all efforts to restore communication facilities so that affected people could be contacted and rescued at an earliest.

Commending the relief and rescue operations by DMRF, Army, Police and other para-military forces in Jammu and Kashmir, the former chief minister urged the Prime Minister to further speed up the operations so that maximum people are rescued at the earliest.
He asked the Centre to involve private cellular phone companies so that communication is restored as soon as possible.

The Leader of the Opposition, who landed in Kashmir valley today and again visited a number of areas in Srinagar, wherever there was accessibility, and interacted with the affected populace.
People informed him that rescue operations require to be accelerated as many people are still trapped on first and second floodrs of multi-storeyed buildings and are crying for help, the release added.

He asked the Centre to increase the number of armymen so that lives of people, including elderly, women and children, are saved.