J-K ministers urge PM to declare floods as national calamity

A high-level ministerial team from Jammu and Kashmir today called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and requested him to declare the flash floods in the state as "national calamity" and announce a "liberal and pragmatic" financial and special rehabilitation package to restore normalcy at the earliest.
The delegation, led by state's Finance Minister Abdul Rahim Rather, submitted a memorandum to Modi putting forth several demands to help the state government which was grappling with the worst deluge in over 100 years.
The memorandum urged the Prime Minister to consider the scale and magnitude of loss to the life and property and declare the tragedy in the state as "national calamity" so that other benefits like grants from the Centre and soft loans from financial institutions could be availed.

"The Prime Minister was very positive and assured us complete support to overcome the crisis," senior minister Ali Mohammed Sagar, who was a part of the delegation, told reporters here.
While there are no guidelines on declaring any disaster as national calamity, the Centre decides this on case to case basis taking into account intensity and magnitude of the calamity, level of relief assistance, capacity of the state government to tackle the problem, the alternatives and the flexibility available within the plan to provide succour and relief.
The Uttarakhand tragedy in 2013 was declared as "calamity of severe nature" and the Centre had given around Rs 12,000 crore assistance to the state.

Modi, during his visit to the state last Sunday, had announced an immediate package of Rs 1000 crore.
Thanking the Centre for timely help in difficult and trying circumstances, the delegation said the role played by the Indian Army, the IAF and the NDRF in aid of the civil authorities made the rescue efforts extremely result oriented.
It said that the state was looking forward for continued and extended support in the shape of a 'special rehabilitation package' that will address all issue inclusively to bring the state back to the normalcy in the shortest possible time.