CM says succor for sufferers in erstwhile Doda and Udhampur, Kathua districts
By News Agency of Kashmir
Jammu : Jammu kashmir Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad has said that the government has decided to provide free ration for three months to people in the erstwhile district of Doda and some parts of Udhampur and Kathua districts where dry spell had caused 80 percent to 90 percent damage to crops.
Intervening during the discussion on motion of thanks on the Governor’s Address in the legislative assembly here today, the Chief Minister said that perhaps for the first time in a century the old district of Doda, now comprising three districts of Doda, Kishtwar and Ramban, suffered an acute dry spell this year even as other parts in Jammu and Kashmir had bumper crops.
The Chief Minister said that the matter was raised by legislators who also held sit-in to highlight the plight of the people in these areas on account of the indifference of the weather. He said the government set up a Committee to undertake a survey of the affected areas that reported 80 percent to 85 percent damage to crops in the erstwhile Doda district. At some places, he said, the damage was reported to be up to 90 percent. He said the Committee also found that some areas in Udhampur and Kathua districts bordering the un-divided Doda district had also suffered damages due to dry spell. Accordingly, the government decided to provide free ration for three months to the affected people whose crops suffered damages from 80 percent to 90 percent.
Earlier, Molvi Abdur Rashid, MLA from Banihal, while speaking in favour of the motion of thanks on Governor’s Address, praised the Chief Minister’s decision to announce free ration for the affected people in Banihal. Upon this, the Chief Minister rose from his seat to clarify that the succor provided by the government in the shape of free ration was not meant for Banihal alone but for the affected people in the above five districts.