By IANS
Srinagar : Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad Wednesday called for relocating the Indian Army’s ammunition depots from the inhabited areas of the state, saying this was necessary to prevent accidents of the kind that occurred earlier this month killing 16 people.
Azad made the suggestion at a meeting Wednesday evening with Defence Secretary Vijay Singh, who arrived here earlier in the day with a high-level central team to assess the situation in the wake of a devastating fire at the ammunition depot at Khundroo, some 65 km from here.
The defence ministry Wednesday announced an initial assistance of Rs.100 million for the victims of the accident.
Azad informed the team about the concerns expressed by people in the affected villages about the possibility of a similar accident and the need to shift the ammunition depot.
He clarified that the villagers were not against the presence of the army but wanted large ammunition dumps to be shifted out of inhabited areas.
The chief minister appreciated the excellent work done by the army in clearing the affected villages of live ammunition in a record time.
He said the first estimate was that the job would take six months but after he spoke to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Defence Minister A.K. Antony, army engineers were flown in from different parts of the country and the job was completed in just 15 days.
The defence secretary assured the chief minister of full cooperation, saying the points raised during their meeting would be adequately addressed.