Provide shelter to flood-affected till Dec 31: HC tells Govt

High Court has asked government to provide shelter sheds to the houseless flood victims till December 31.
The Division Bench comprising Muzaffar Hussain Attar and Justice Bansi Lal asked authorities to hand over these sheds to the victim families on January 1. “The government should also pay the rentals to the flood affected people within this time frame.”
Earlier, government had planned to temporarily rehabilitate flood affected by offering them pre-fabricated structures on Rs 5000 rental per four months.
During the hearing of the PIL on floods, Additional Solicitor General of India apprised the court that an amount of Rs 1 lakh has been sanctioned for fully damaged structures and Rs 50,000 for partially damaged structures as ex-gratia under Prime Ministers’ Relief Fund.
During the proceedings, court asked the flood affected people to inform registrar judicial in case they did not receive any interim relief.
Castigating government for being slow in relief works, bench observed that officials are public servants and people are their masters.
Court also questioned the fixation of Rs 75000 as interim relief and said it is a peanut and government’s wrong policy.
In terms of previous directions, three Deputy Commissioners and Chief Engineer Irrigation and Flood Control were present in the court. They appraised the court about their performance in relief works and providing shelters to flood-hit people.
The court exempted them from personal appearance in next hearings.
Court had earlier castigated Deputy Commissioners of Anantnag, Pulwama and Shopian saying the works on shelters is incomplete and no time frame has been given for construction of shelter sheds.