Assessment done after revised survey: Drabu

Srinagar: In a major disappointment to the flood hit people of the Valley, the government has sharply reduced the number of houses that were damaged by the floods.

The number of houses has been drastically reduced to 67,661 from 3, 44,607 that were estimated by the previous government.

The reduction of damaged houses was Friday confirmed by the government itself in an official statement.

Quoting Finance Minister Haseeb Drabu, the statement said the reduction was done following a revised survey by the concerned Deputy Commissioners and thus the total number of the flood-damaged houses has come down from 344607 to 67661.

Giving the break-up, Drabu said the number of fully damaged Pucca houses has come down to 10,451 against 45,862 as was projected in the loss-memo submitted to the Centre by the NC-Congress Government.

He said the number of fully damaged Kutcha houses has come down to 11,034 from 21,635 and number of partially damaged houses has gone down from 18,7756 to 46,000.

In another disappointment to people, the government has kept only Rs 1200 crore for relief and rehabilitation of the flood victims.

Enumerating the details, Drabu said that Rs 3 lakh each would be given as compensation for fully damaged Pucca house, Rs 1.50 lakh for fully damaged Kutcha house, Rs 1 lakh for severely damaged Pucca house and Rs 50,000 for severely damaged Kutcha house.

“This will be in addition to the relief already paid to the flood-affected households and traders,” Drabu said.

Surprisingly, the government has left out the partially damaged houses from the relief. (KNS)