Srinagar: Terming the 2014 deluge in Jammu and Kashmir as a "national disaster", a visiting parliamentary panel Thursday laid emphasis on the "dire" need of funds from the Centre for relief and rehabilitation of people affected by the floods.
"I feel it was a national disaster and only national resources can address the problems. It (relief and rehabilitation) cannot be done by the state government," MP Hukum Singh, who heads a 31-member Parliamentary Standing Committee on Water Resources, told reporters here.
Singh said the state government cannot address the problems on its own and needs support from the Centre.
"There is a dire need of funds here because the state government perhaps cannot do it on its own... The committee has taken an assessment of the situation and recommended more help from the Centre," he said.
"We have taken our assessment and we will give our recommendations to the Parliament and we will try to keep our recommendations to the point so that more and more help comes from the Central government," he said.
Singh said though rehabilitation was a top priority of the government, there was an opportunity to remove the encroachments on the rivers and flood-spill channels.
"Rehabilitation is a top priority. Those who have not yet resettled in their houses, should be able to do so sooner. And there also is an opportunity for the government now to remove the encroachments," he said, adding the committee would submit its report in less than a month.
