KL NEWS NETWORK
SRINAGAR
National Conference (NC) on Thursday during lashed out at the Mufti Sayeed Government for “adding insult to the injury of thousands of flood victims by co-authoring a paltry Flood Relief Package that amounts to nothing more than a cruel, ruthless joke with the people of the State”.
According to GNS, while addressing a presser, the NC General Secretary Ali Mohammad Sagar, said: “the State’s Finance Minister had – in a brazen show of insensitivity to the flood victims – declared that he was satisfied with the paltry Flood Relief Package and that, contrary to dramas being enacted by other PDP leaders, this statement officially makes the Mufti Sayeed Government equally culpable in this atrocious and grave injustice.”
He said the PDP had foisted elections on the flood victims in the midst of devastation in the State with the promise of ensuring their dignified rehabilitation.
“PDP preferred its political rehabilitation with the BJP over the rehabilitation of the flood victims at a time when thousands of flood victims were literally without a roof over their heads and were sleeping on the roads. This brought all the relief and rehabilitation efforts of the State Government to a grinding halt due to the electoral model code of conduct and the fact that the entire Administration was diverted towards the electoral process in the State. Today, more than nine months have passed and the Mufti Sayeed Government has finally co-authored with the Central Government a Flood Relief Package of a mere Rs 551 Crore in actuality instead of the Rs 44,000 Crore package demanded by the previous National Conference led Government,” he said.
“Fact of the matter is that the State’s own elected Government and especially its Finance Minister thwarted the Rs 44,000 Crore Flood Relief Package proposal by questioning its accuracy on the floor of the Legislative Assembly. While doing so, the State’s Finance Minister neither stated if the Rs 44,000 Crore was an overestimation or an underestimation according to the Mufti Sayeed Government – nor did the Mufti Sayeed Government come up with an alternate proposal that could have been submitted to the Central Government as a replacement. This is where the injustice that has been meted out to the flood victims today first emanated from and this despicable politicization of a Relief Package by the Mufti Sayeed Government has resulted in the tragic and contemptuous abandonment of the flood victims by the Government of India – so the State Government is an architect and a co-author of this travesty. The Rs 44,000 Crore Flood Relief Package proposal was prepared after the Administration carried out an elaborate assessment of damages to public infrastructure, private infrastructure, thousands of houses and losses suffered by the Business and Traders communities,” Sagar said.
He said that some PDP leaders have issued statements expressing disappointment over this paltry Flood Relief Package and are now themselves saying that the PDP-BJP ‘Agenda of the Alliance’ has been reduced to a mere piece of paper. “If these leaders then believe, as do we, that Mufti Mohammad Sayeed sold out to the BJP for the sole and singular aim of power, they should quit the party and apologize to the people for being a part of this sell-out. Unless that happens, these statements amount to nothing but brazen and pre-meditated attempts by the culprits to feign sympathy,” the NC General Secretary said.
Sagar said that in view of the “complete and utter failure” of the State Government to deliver relief and compensation to the Flood Victims, the party “hereby demands that a Special Legislative Session is convened without any delays to discuss the Flood Relief situation in the State”.
“We cannot allow PDP and BJP to insult and humiliate the flood victims in such a brazen and sadistic manner. The Special Legislate Session has become a necessity and should be convened as soon as possible,” he said.
