Chisoti Disaster: Centre leaving no stone unturned in relief, rehab: Rajnath Singh
Jammu, Aug 24: Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, on Sunday, reaffirmed that the central government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who himself was very concerned and personally monitoring the situation, was leaving no stone unturned in providing relief and rehabilitation to those affected in the Chisoti cloud-burst incident in Kishtwar district.
Pledging full support of the union government to people in Padder, Rajnath Singh asserted that long-term infrastructural development and disaster preparedness would also be ensured.
The Defence Minister was in Jammu on a day-long visit to get a first-hand appraisal of the situation in disaster-struck Chisoti village; relief and rescue operation in progress on ground zero, and interact with the affected people and the injured in the tragedy.
However, as anticipated earlier, the inclement weather forced a tweak in his itinerary, and he could not fly to Kishtwar.
Nevertheless, he met the injured in the tragedy at the Government Medical College (GMC) Hospital in Jammu.
Later, he took stock of Chisoti’s situation in a high-level review meeting with the senior officials of multiple agencies engaged in relief and rescue operations and the Leader of Opposition in J&K Legislative Assembly through video-conference from Raj Bhawan, Jammu.
Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha and the Union Minister of State in the PMO, Jitendra Singh, accompanied him at both places.
Before it, the Defence Minister’s visit to Jammu from the union capital also got delayed a bit after his plane developed a mid-air snag and returned to Delhi.
Union Minister of State in PMO Jitendra Singh was accompanying him.
Later, Rajnath Singh reached Jammu in another plane at around 1.30 pm.
He was received at Jammu Technical airport by the Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha; Chief Secretary Atal Dulloo; Vice Chief of the Army Staff (VCOAS) Lieutenant General Pushpendra Pal Singh; Northern Army Commander Lt Gen Pratik Sharma; GOC White Knight Corps; GOC Tiger Division; DIG Jammu; DC Jammu Dr Rakesh Minhas, and SSP Jammu.
J&K BJP president Sat Sharma joined by party MLAs Narinder Sigh Raina, Devender Kumar Manyal and Vikram Randhawa, besides others, were also present at the airport.
From the airport, the Defence Minister straightaway drove to GMC Hospital Jammu to enquire about the well-being of the Kishtwar victims. Sixteen injured persons were presently under treatment there. He was briefed by the team of doctors led by the GMC Principal, Dr Ashutosh Gupta, about the condition of patients.
“He (Defence Minister) personally met each patient, enquired about their health and discussed their treatment with the attending doctors,” Jitendra Singh, later shared, on ‘X’.
Emerging out of GMC Jammu, Rajnath Singh, in his brief interaction with the media, said that the Prime Minister Narendra Modi was very concerned regarding the Chisoti disaster and was personally monitoring the situation.
“He (PM) wanted an updated status, so I’ve come to assess the situation. I wanted to visit Chisoti, but due to bad weather conditions, I could not go there. There was a landslide on the way, so it was not possible to go there by road either. Hence, I came here to see the injured in the hospital,” he said.
The Defence Minister said that he believed all the patients were out of danger and were on the path of speedy recovery.
“I would like to congratulate all the doctors in this Medical College hospital for taking good care of all the injured, who were brought here for treatment. Doctors treated them with great dedication and compassion. Injured are also satisfied with the treatment facilities being offered to them,” he said.
“We are going to Raj Bhawan now. Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinhaji and the Union Minister Jitendra Singh will also be there and will speak to the affected people (in Chisoti) and take stock of the situation through videoconferencing now,” he shared with the media.
Senior officers of the Army, Police, other agencies and civil administration were present at Raj Bhawan in the meeting.
“Defence Minister issued clear and firm directions that there should be no compromise in relief measures and that every affected family must feel the support of the Government in this difficult time. He also assured that the Government of India will stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the people of Padder not only in providing immediate relief but also in ensuring long-term infrastructural development and disaster preparedness,” a BJP leader said.
As a wrap-up, the Defence Minister himself later summed up his Jammu visit on ‘X’.
“Due to inclement weather, I could not go to the cloudburst-affected areas of Kishtwar today. Reviewed the situation at Chisoti from Jammu via video conferencing facility. It is heartening to note that the State administration, Army, NDRF, SDRF, and J&K Police have done excellent work during the crisis situation. Under the leadership of Prime Minister Shri @narendramodi, the Central Government is leaving no stone unturned in providing relief and rehabilitation to those who have been affected by this tragic incident,” he posted.
Through another post, Rajnath Singh gave a brief account of his GMC Jammu visit.
“Visited Jammu Medical College in Jammu and met those who were injured due to cloudburst and flash floods at Chishoti in Kishtwar. Praying for the speedy recovery of all the injured. The Lieutenant Governor of Jammu and Kashmir, Shri Manoj Sinha and MoS in the Union Government Dr Jitendra Singh accompanied me during the visit,” he posted.
He left for the union capital in the evening.
