Srinagar: Jammu and Kashmir will submit a memorandum of losses amounting to Rs.1,00,000 crore to the central government as the recent devastating floods have caused colossal damage to property besides claiming more than 280 lives, a top official said here Monday.
In its first media interaction after the September 7 floods, the state government said the memorandum of losses would be submitted to the central government after the state cabinet approves it later this week.
“We are living through unusual times. In living human memory, no disaster of such monumental dimensions has hit Kashmir and I am sure all of us realise this was no ordinary event,” state Chief Secretary Muhammad Iqbal Khanday said.
The state government said the Jhelum River had a discharge of 1.40 thousand cusecs of water on September 7, the like of which had never been recorded even 112 years ago during the floods of 1902.
“The rains started September 1 and continued uninterrupted for a week, but perhaps rains would not have created such a havoc if the tributaries of the Jhelum River had not been hit by multiple cloudbursts during this period,” he said.
Khanday said 281 people died in these floods — 196 of them in the Jammu province and 85 in the Kashmir Valley.
“A total of 5,642 villages were affected by the floods of which 800 villages remained submerged for more than two weeks and 12.50 lakh families were directly or indirectly affected by the floods.
“Lakhs of people were rescued by various government agencies, including the army, air force, NDRF and the state administration,” Khanday said. He said private properties suffered heavy damage during the floods.
A total of “83,044 concrete houses were damaged completely while 96,089 houses were damaged partially. Besides, 21,162 semi-concrete houses were completely damaged and 54,264 such houses suffered partial damage”, he said.
“Other structures, including granaries, damaged in the floods number 353,864. Livestock, including 10,050 milch animals, perished besides 33,000 sheep and goats.
“Damage to agricultural crops has been to the tune of Rs.4,043 crore while horticultural crops suffered losses amounting to Rs.1568 crore. A total of 6.51 lakh hectares of land were affected.
“Damage to public utility services and infrastructure, including roads, electric power supply, water supply schemes, have been estimated at Rs.3,000 crore,” the chief secretary said.
Khanday said these were initial estimates of the damage caused and multi-disciplinary teams were working overtime to arrive at the final figures.
He said 90 percent electricity supply has been temporarily restored across the state while 3,000 km of roads have been temporarily restored so far out of the 6,000 km damaged by the floods.
The chief secretary said despite huge damage to healthcare facilities, including major hospitals in Srinagar city, all the hospitals in the city were functioning now.
(IANS)
In its first media interaction after the September 7 floods, the state government said the memorandum of losses would be submitted to the central government after the state cabinet approves it later this week.
“We are living through unusual times. In living human memory, no disaster of such monumental dimensions has hit Kashmir and I am sure all of us realise this was no ordinary event,” state Chief Secretary Muhammad Iqbal Khanday said.
The state government said the Jhelum River had a discharge of 1.40 thousand cusecs of water on September 7, the like of which had never been recorded even 112 years ago during the floods of 1902.
“The rains started September 1 and continued uninterrupted for a week, but perhaps rains would not have created such a havoc if the tributaries of the Jhelum River had not been hit by multiple cloudbursts during this period,” he said.
Khanday said 281 people died in these floods — 196 of them in the Jammu province and 85 in the Kashmir Valley.
“A total of 5,642 villages were affected by the floods of which 800 villages remained submerged for more than two weeks and 12.50 lakh families were directly or indirectly affected by the floods.
“Lakhs of people were rescued by various government agencies, including the army, air force, NDRF and the state administration,” Khanday said. He said private properties suffered heavy damage during the floods.
A total of “83,044 concrete houses were damaged completely while 96,089 houses were damaged partially. Besides, 21,162 semi-concrete houses were completely damaged and 54,264 such houses suffered partial damage”, he said.
“Other structures, including granaries, damaged in the floods number 353,864. Livestock, including 10,050 milch animals, perished besides 33,000 sheep and goats.
“Damage to agricultural crops has been to the tune of Rs.4,043 crore while horticultural crops suffered losses amounting to Rs.1568 crore. A total of 6.51 lakh hectares of land were affected.
“Damage to public utility services and infrastructure, including roads, electric power supply, water supply schemes, have been estimated at Rs.3,000 crore,” the chief secretary said.
Khanday said these were initial estimates of the damage caused and multi-disciplinary teams were working overtime to arrive at the final figures.
He said 90 percent electricity supply has been temporarily restored across the state while 3,000 km of roads have been temporarily restored so far out of the 6,000 km damaged by the floods.
The chief secretary said despite huge damage to healthcare facilities, including major hospitals in Srinagar city, all the hospitals in the city were functioning now.
(IANS)
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