Srinagar: Opposition PDP president Mehbooba Mufti today said that delay in rehabilitation work in flood-hit areas of the state could prove "fatal" and called for immediate disbursement of relief to allow the victims to reconstruct their houses before the onset of winters.
"There is an urgent need for disbursement of relief for the reconstruction of houses so that the people could have at least something to live in before the onset of winter," Mehbooba said after visiting several flood affected areas of Anantnag and Bijbehara.
The Lok Sabha member from South Kashmir claimed that the state government has provided tented accommodation only to limited number of affected families while others have been left "at the mercy of God".
"Government should have, more than a fortnight after the floods, provided at least tented accommodation with basic facilities of electricity, drinking water and sanitation. However, the situation was still grim on the ground as hardly any effective measure was visible," she said.
Mehbooba said in case, the people were not provided with the immediate relief to reconstruct and repair their houses, they will have to spent harsh winter under the open sky.
This will only compound the issue and risk the lives of people across the state, she said.
"Government does not seem to have realised the magnitude of the damage caused due to the recent natural calamity. As such relief and rehabilitation work is being carried out casually," the PDP president said.
Quoting reports that more than two lakh structures have suffered partial to total damage due to the floods across the state.
Mehbooba said the sanitation was another important issue which she alleged the government was not paying attention to.
"It is unfortunate that hardly any major effort was visible on the sanitation front leaving people prone to the spread of diseases," she said.
She expressed concern over the non-availability of ration in the affected and unaffected areas of the state.
Mehbooba said the contradiction by the government in the announcement of ration has also compounded the matter as people were complaining of not even getting the paid ration from the state-run depots.
