The Supreme Court said the “massive floods in Kashmir valley have created horror” and that a disaster of such magnitude deserves that the entire nation reach out to bring immediate relief to the victims.
“It needs no emphasis from us that a calamity and disaster as huge as this deserves a national response so that immediate relief is made available to the flood victims,” a three-judge Bench led by Chief Justice of India R.M. Lodha said in an order on Friday.
Though the court fully acknowledged that the Central government would take “all necessary steps” to reach the distressed in the Valley, it asked the government to consider setting up a “unified agency to co-ordinate rescue, relief and rehabilitation operations.”
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The Bench, also comprising Justices Kurian Joseph and Rohinton Nariman, was hearing petitions filed by senior advocates Colin Gonsalves and Bhim Singh that over 400 villages were affected and 5 lakh people were still stranded due to the deluge.
Mr. Gonsalves, in a note handed over to the court, said eight districts – Kulgam, Anantnag, Shopian, Pulwama, Ganderbal, Baramulla, Budgam and Srinagar – were gravely affected by the floods.
The Bench posted the matter for September 15.
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