Union Home Minister to visit Jammu on Aug 31 to assess flood damage

Jammu, Aug 30 (IANS) Union Home Minister, Amit Shah will visit Jammu division for two days on August 31 and September 1 to assess the damage caused by the recent heavy floods in the region.

Official sources said HM Amit Shah will visit Jammu for two days to assess the damage caused by the recent floods and he will also visit the Mata Vaishno Devi shrine base camp Katra in Reasi district and Kishtwar.

The visit will be with the aim to assess the damage caused by the recent floods in which nearly 150 people including about 130 pilgrims were killed.

“The Union Home Minister will reach Jammu on August 31 evening and return to the union capital on September 1 evening. He will be accompanied by a team of Ministry of Home Affairs officials during the visit.

“In the evening of August 31, he will chair a high level meeting at the Raj Bhawan to assess the damage caused by the floods across Jammu region.

“Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha will attend the meeting and brief the Home Minister about the damage caused, relief/rescue operations and restoration of infrastructure across the region”, sources said.

Massive damage to roads, bridges, civilian properties including houses, shops, crops, land, inundation of inhabited localities, disruption of the Mata Vaishno Devi shrine and Machail Mata Yatra was caused by heavy rain, cloudburst and landslides.

HM Amit Shah will meet pilgrims injured at Ardhkuwari en route to the Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine at the Narayana hospital in Katra town.

He will then take an aerial assessment of damage caused by the cloudburst followed by flashfloods at Chashoti in Kishtwar district, where 65 people majority of them Mata Yatra pilgrims, were killed and over 100 others injured in a massive cloudburst on August 14.

He will also visit some locations in Jammu district where flood caused heavy damage. The Union Home Minister will return to New Delhi in the evening on September 1.

There are expectations that the Central government could announce a major relief package for the affected people and the damaged infrastructure in the coming days.

What remains to be seen is whether HM Amit Shah announces a relief package during his upcoming visit to Jammu division or would it be announced after he makes on the ground assessment of the damage caused by the natural calamities.

--IANS

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