J-K Guv seeks enhancement of flood relief fund from Centre

Jammu and Kashmir Governor N N Vohra today sought substantial enhancement in the flood relief fund from the Centre, saying the assistance given to the affected families is inadequate.
The Governor has addressed a letter to Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh in this regard, a spokesman of Raj Bhawan said.
In a detailed communication to the Home Minister, the Governor has highlighted that the scale of relief admissible under State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) is altogether inadequate for the affected family to even repair a partially damaged house.
The Governor has called for substantial enhancement in the scale of relief to enable the affected families to carry out the essential repair, keeping in view the considerably high cost of material and labour in the Kashmir Valley, he said.

The Governor has expressed gratitude to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for announcing additional relief of Rs 1 lakh and Rs 50,000 to the affected families whose pucca or kutcha houses had been fully damaged, out of the Prime Minister's National Relief Fund.
The Governor has urged the Home Minister to support the proposal for additional financial assistance being also provided in respect of severely and partially damaged houses.

The Raj Bhavan Spokesperson added that as per SDRF scale, in respect of damage to private property, the affected households have been provided relief of Rs 75,000 for a fully damaged pucca house, Rs 12,600 for severely damaged house and Rs 3,800 for partially damaged house.

An amount of Rs 156.25 crore has been so far disbursed to the affected families on account of more than 1.62 lakh fully damaged structures in the Kashmir Division, the spokesman said.
The Governor will also be meeting the Union Home Minister later this week to discuss the major issues relating to relief and rehabilitation of the flood victims.