Raja Syed Rather
Srinagar, Apr 22 : Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Tuesday said the government will try its best to open the Srinagar-Jammu National Highway within 24 hours.
Speaking to reporters, Omar, as reported by the news agency, said the government’s top priority was to protect the innocent lives stuck in the landslides, who were evacuated swiftly.
“Now our priority is to reconnect the national highway because until we reconnect and reconstruct the road, it is not possible for us to send the material to Ramban,” he said.
Omar said officials have assured him that they will restore single traffic towards the highway. “For three consecutive days, the administration visited the Ramban. On the first day, the Deputy Chief Minister and the concerned MLA visited Ramban on the spot on the very first day. On the second day, I reached the spot to ensure that no life was harmed because of the massive landslides,” he said.
The CM said he believes any work that can be done at a rapid pace is more beneficial. “As of now, the situation in Ramban is very bad. I spoke to the officials and we are hopeful that one-way traffic will be thrown open,” he said.
As far as the essential services are concerned, the chief minister said he has directed the officials to ensure that convoys of fuel tankers are being sent through the Mughal Road towards Kashmir so that the locals won’t feel cut off.
He warned that the government won’t tolerate black marketing and hoarding. “We will take strict action if such complaints arise,” he said.
Omar urged the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) to keep a check and balance on the prices of air tickets. “As of now, we are trying to provide temporary relief to the victims and we will ensure that they will get the compensation through the Red Cross at the earliest,” he said.
About the compensation, the CM said the government will assess the damage to the properties of the victims and accordingly provide them with compensation through NDRF and SDRF norms.
“We will request the Government of India (GoI) to declare the area a disaster zone. I’m sure that they will help the victims,” he said.
Omar further said the Jammu and Kashmir government was expecting relief from the Supreme Court with regard to the Waqf Bill.
Speaking about the One Nation One Election (ONOE), he said, “If the ruling party in the Centre tries to bulldoze and implement new laws on us, we will approach the SC the way we did in the Waqf Act.”—
