J-K flood relief package a 'cruel joke': Cong

Congress today termed the Centre's flood rehabilitation package for Jammu and Kashmir a "cruel joke" and said that the Narendra Modi government was treating the people of the state like "beggars".
"The Modi-led BJP government is treating the people of J-K as beggars.
"The so-called package just announced by the Centre is a cruel joke on the flood-affected people of Kashmir," JKPCC president GA Mir said at a Congress convention at Shopian in south Kashmir.
He said the state government and the Centre were rubbing salt into the wounds of people.
"It is ironical instead of rehabilitating them properly, the Centre and state government are playing with the emotions of people in the name of relief and rehabilitation," charged Mir.

He said that while PDP had said it was tying up with BJP for the development and rehabilitation of the flood-affected people, the so-called package just announced by the Centre had "punctured all the promises" of the Mufti Mohammed Sayeed-led party.

People who voted for PDP feel "cheated and misled", he said.
Saying that the deluge of September last year had brought death and destruction in the Valley and elsewhere and badly affected the people, he asked "how are the Chief Minister and Finance Minister satisfied with this package?".
"Finance Minister Haseeb Drabu has repeatedly said that he won't go to Delhi with a begging bowl. Now that he didn't carry begging bowl to Delhi, what has he got, how are he and the Chief Minister satisfied with this package," he asked.

Mir urged the state government and the Centre to stop playing with the emotions of the people and warned them of the consequences of following such a course of action.
Representatives of trade, tourism and civil society in J-K have unanimously rejected the package of Rs 2,437 crore announced by the Centre for reconstruction and flood rehabilitation, saying it is a "humiliation" for the people of the state.