Srinagar, Sep 28 (KNO): Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Monday informed the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly that a detailed assessment of crop damage caused by a severe hailstorm in parts of Gulmarg constituency is underway and compensation will be sanctioned and released as per the prescribed relief norms after completion of the verification process.
Replying to a Calling Attention Notice by MLA Gulmarg Pirzada Farooq Ahmad Shah, the Chief Minister, who also holds the Revenue portfolio, as per the news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO), said the hailstorm occurred during the intervening night of September 11 and 12 at around 11:45 pm and affected several villages in Tehsil Kunzer/Tangmarg.
He said the hailstorm damaged agricultural and horticultural crops, including apple orchards, maize and paddy/rice. The Chief Minister said Revenue teams, along with Agriculture and Horticulture officials, had been deputed to the affected villages to conduct on-the-spot assessment and verification of the crop damage in accordance with the prescribed norms and guidelines.
He said the concerned teams had been directed to submit detailed assessment reports at the earliest. “The village-wise and crop-wise extent of damage will be intimated after the field reports are received and consolidated,” the government said in its response.
On compensation and relief, the Chief Minister said no compensation or relief had been sanctioned or released so far as the assessment and verification process was still underway.
He said sanction and release of compensation, along with details regarding the amount and number of beneficiaries, would follow strictly as per the prescribed relief norms after the consolidated assessment report was received and processed.
The Chief Minister further informed the House that no case had been finalised so far and that the number of cases assessed, approved, paid and pending would be reported once detailed assessment reports from field functionaries were received and consolidated.
Regarding any special relief or assistance for affected farmers and horticulturists, Omar said there was presently no such proposal with the department as the assessment of losses was still under process in the district.
‘ST-II APPLICATIONS IN URI UNDER PROCESS’
In another Calling Attention Notice, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah informed the House that applications for issuance of ST-II certificates under the Pahari Ethnic Group category in Uri constituency were being processed strictly in accordance with applicable statutory rules, government guidelines and codified criteria.
Replying to a notice by Uri MLA Dr Sajjad Shafi regarding alleged administrative delays, non-processing and wrongful rejection of ST-II certificate applications, the Chief Minister said reports received from the concerned Tehsildars indicated that all applications received under the Pahari Ethnic Group category in Uri were being processed according to the prescribed procedure and eligibility criteria.
The Chief Minister said no eligible application within the constituency was being subjected to any arbitrary, wrongful or unwarranted rejection.
He said each application was being examined objectively and on its individual merits, based on field verification reports, relevant revenue records and extracts, and supporting documents furnished by the applicants.
The competent authorities, he said, were ensuring that the prescribed procedure and eligibility criteria were duly adhered to while processing each case—(KNO)