J&K remembers 2014 floods, reaches out to Kerala

Remembering the inundation of Srinagar when heavy rains lashed the Valley in 2014, some people here have decided to reach out to the victims of the floods in Kerala.

"We have collected donations from local people, including businessmen, and are dispatching food packets to Kerala for the flood victims," said Zubair Ahmad, who has organising a fund-raising drive.

Similarly, the staff at J&K Bank will contribute Rs 11 crore to help Kerala, a spokesperson said.

The BJP's Jammu and Kashmir unit today said all its 41 lawmakers from the state, including four MPs, will donate a month's salary to the Prime Minister's Relief Fund to help the flood victims in Kerala.

Zubair Ahmad's group is sending food packets to Kerala.

Its volunteers have so far focused on raising funds in Srinagar city but would expand their efforts to other parts of the Valley in the coming days, he said.

"These food packets will suffice for 2,000 people. We will be doing more in the coming days," he said.

At J&K Bank, most staffers are donating six days' salary while chairman Parvez Ahmed will contribute his two months' salary.

He said having experienced the deluge in Srinagar only a few years back, the bank employees understood the misery faced by the people of Kerala.

Jammu and Kashmir BJP president Ravinder Raina today said 26 BJP members of the J&K Legislative Assembly, 11 Legislative Council members and four party MPs will donate one month's salary.

Five hundred party workers have also come forward to work as volunteers in Kerala and are waiting for a nod from the party's central leadership, he told reporters in Jammu.

"We faced a similar situation in 2014, and the whole nation stood with us. Today, they need our help and so we should offer every possible financial and other assistance for the people of Kerala, lakhs of whom have been rendered homeless," he said.

The rains in Kerala have left 231 dead in a fortnight and displaced over 14 lakh people, officials said.

Srinagar and other parts of the Valley had suffered a similar calamity in September 2014.