J-K admin notifies untimely snowfall in Valley, Jammu as natural disaster

The Jammu and Kashmir Administration on Tuesday approved notifying the untimely heavy snowfall between November 6 and 9 in the Valley and between December 12 and 14 in parts of Jammu division as a state-specific natural disaster, an official spokesman said.

The decision was taken by the Executive Committee of the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF), headed by Chief Secretary B V R Subrahmanyam, for the purpose of providing additional assistance to the affected farmers on the lines of the snowfall of November last year, he said.

The chief secretary directed the Disaster Management Relief, Rehabilitation and Reconstruction (DMRR&R) Department to work out additional requirement of funds in each district based on their projected demand and the funds available with them for meeting various disaster-related expenses as per SDRF norms, the spokesman said.

He said the secretary, DMRR&R, will also work out the additional requirement of disaster-related equipment in consultation with deputy commissioners to strengthen the response mechanism of the district administration to winter vagaries.

The executive meeting also approved the allocation of Rs 2 crore for placement at the disposal of Public Health Engineering (PHE) and Irrigation and Flood Control Department for procurement of 10 Vehicle Mounted Mobile DG Sets to meet emergent power supply requirements of PHE installations for uninterrupted water supply to consumers, the official said.

He said the meeting was informed that 22 bulldozers and 16 snow plough machines will arrive by January and February 2020, respectively.

Besides this, three sophisticated snow cutter machines will arrive by March 2020. These machines will augment the requirement of disaster-related equipment in the districts, the spokesman added.