Floods: J-K to seek enhanced compensation for damaged houses

Jammu and Kashmir government will ask the Centre to enhance to Rs 7500 crore the compensation for damage to residential houses due to floods in relaxation of the norms under the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF).
As the number of fully damaged houses in the state is estimated to be one lakh, the state government is entitled for an assistance of nearly Rs 900 crore for reconstruction of houses at present.
The state government, in its memorandum of losses to be submitted to the Centre, has sought Rs 5 lakh as compensation for fully damaged houses and Rs two lakh for partially damaged houses.

"We are planning to approach the Centre for relaxing the SDRF norms and provide compensation of Rs five lakh for each damaged house," a senior state government official told PTI.
Under the existing SDRF norms, which were amended in July last year, compensation for a fully damaged pucca (concrete) house has been fixed at Rs 70,000 while for a partially damaged house, the compensation is Rs 15,000, he said.
The state government is seeking compensation of Rs two lakh for each partially damaged house, the official said.

He said state's Revenue, Relief and Rehabilitation department has put the number of fully damaged houses in the state at one lakh - mostly in Srinagar city - and the partially damaged houses at 1.30 lakh.

As per these figures, the state government is entitled for an assistance of nearly Rs 900 crore for reconstruction of houses but if the Centre grants the wish of the state government for enhanced compensation, the assistance shall rise to Rs 7500 crore.
"Although even the enhanced amount will not fully compensate the losses, it will contribute significantly in the rebuilding process," the official said.
He said the issue of compensation for reconstruction of houses and other issues, which are part of the memorandum of losses to be submitted to the Centre, were discussed in detail at a meeting chaired by Chief Secretary M I Khanday yesterday.

The state government is also seeking to enhance the ex-gratia relief in case of deaths due to floods from existing Rs 1.50 lakh to Rs seven lakh.