Badal flags off relief material for Uttarakhand

Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today flagged off the first consignment of relief material which included rice, flour, blankets and woollen clothes for the flood victims in Uttarakhand.
About 100 tonnes of rice, 20 tonnes of atta, 18 tonnes sugar, 7.50 tonnes of milk powder besides 15,000 blankets and 14,000 woollen clothes were sent off in 22 trucks, an official spokesman said.
Talking to the media persons, Badal said he had recently called on Uttarakhand Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna to ascertain their requirement of relief material for the flood victims in this hour of crisis.
He said the state government was committed to provide succour to the people of Uttarakhand, who had been rendered homeless due to recent flash floods in the valley.

He said the state government would further dispatch more consignments of rice, wheat flour, sugar besides 10,000 blankets and woollen clothes each, as and when required by the Uttarakhand government.
The state government had already announced a grant of Rs 10 crore for the reconstruction of Sri Kedarnath Temple and the damaged infrastructure at Gobindghat - the gateway to the Hemkunt Sahab Gurdwara, he said.

Describing the devastating flash floods in Uttarakhand as national tragedy, the Chief Minister expressed his complete solidarity with the people of Uttarakhand.
He said he would soon call on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to hand over the state's contribution towards the Prime Minister's National Relief Fund (PMNRF).

Replying to a query regarding the missing persons from Punjab in Uttarakhand, the Chief Minister said that Bahuguna had given the state a list of 26 persons who had gone missing, when he had called on him last week at Dehradun.
Efforts were afoot to trace those persons/establish their whereabouts with the help of Uttarakhand government, he added.
The convoy of 22 trucks which left for Uttarakhand was escorted by two police vehicles besides two officials of Food & Civil Supplies department, who would hand over the atta and rice to the authorities concerned at Rishikesh and other items at Dehradun.