Bhalla leads Congress team to rain-hit Mahore, Dharmari in Reasi
Reasi, Sep 24: Senior Congress leader and working president Raman Bhalla on Wednesday led a party delegation to Mahore and Dharmari in Reasi district to meet families affected by recent rains, landslides and sinking land that damaged houses, roads and farmland.
As per a statement, Bhalla was accompanied by Chief Spokesperson Ex-MLC Ravinder Sharma, DCC President Reasi Bhupender Singh Jamwal, Working President Adv. Sheikh Aiyaz, DDC Mahore-A Ch. Mohammed Israil, Jatin Vashisht, and Mahila Congress leader Parveen Akhtar, who visited remote areas of Mahore & Dharmari in District Reasi today to reach out to the rain-, flood- and landslide-affected people. The Congress team met the affected people at a number of places where a large number of houses, shops, agricultural land, government buildings and road infrastructure have been worst damaged due to heavy rains, landslides and sinking of land, putting the lives of the people at great risk, apart from the casualties of eight persons in the Baddar area of this belt.
A large number of people, including the prominent political & social leaders, met the congress leaders and narrated their woes and worst sufferings and complained about the lack of adequate rescue, relief and rehabilitation measures so far.
Their houses are unsafe, lands are sinking, crops are damaged, and the few tents for some affected families are quite inadequate, and they are worried about relief and rehabilitation, as winter is fast approaching.
Villagers at Sarh in Mahore complained about the criminal negligence of BRO and the contractor company SGiH for not putting in retaining walls, burst walls, or other preventative measures; as a result, the surrounding houses near the under-construction road were badly damaged due to landslides. Several times the district administration was apprised about the negligent working of BRO agencies, but no action was taken.
The team met people at Kanthaan, Chechi Nagar, Purana Jandhar (Dharmari), Chaklas, Mahore-Sarh, Dharmari and various other hamlets where huge damage to land, houses and road connectivity has taken place.
Speaking to people Raman Bhalla regretted that people of the entire belt of Mahore and Dharmari are the worst affected by the recent rains and expressed deep sympathies with the families of those who lost lives in the Baddar area. He regretted that no senior leadership of the ruling party visited the area and the road connectivity was not restored earlier.
He said that the central government has delayed a comprehensive relief, rehabilitation and restoration package so far, and central ministers should have visited the area by chopper before to see the worst affected area.
Bhalla said that a large number of families are living under risky conditions in damaged houses in the absence of an adequate number of tents. He said that in the absence of a comprehensive mega relief package from the Centre, the rehabilitation of the affected population is not possible.
He said that the Congress party has already demanded a mega relief package from the prime minister, who should have visited earlier to assess the huge losses.
Referring to the complaint of locals at Sarah, Bhalla said that man-made disasters should be investigated & responsibility fixed.
Chief Spokesperson Ravinder Sharma highlighted the plight of thousands of people affected by this natural calamity and reiterated the party demand for declaring it as a national disaster to give adequate relief. He said that the engineering wing and technical experts of the geological department should assess the loss and the large-scale landslides and sinking of land to take future measures.
