As flood waters receded, health worries mounted in Kashmir Valley today over any outbreak of water-borne diseases even as political parties came together to pledge to rebuild the lives and livelihood of lakhs of affected people.
Over 1,42,000 people have been rescued so far from the flood-ravaged parts of Jammu and Kashmir but still thousands of people remained stranded, officials said.
As authorities assessed the magnitude of the havoc caused by the worst floods to hit J and K in 109 years, a delegation of ministers from the state called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and requested him to declare the natural disaster a "National Calamity" and announce a "liberal and pragmatic" financial and special rehabilitation package to restore normalcy in the state at the earliest.
The delegation led by Finance Minister Abdul Rahim Rather submitted a memorandum to the Prime Minister in New Delhi putting forth several demands to help the state. The memorandum said the scale and magnitude of loss to life and property by all means can be categorised as a "National Calamity".
As fears of possible outbreak of water-borne diseases mounted, 13 tonnes of water purifying tablets and six water filtration plants with a capacity to filter 1.2 lakh bottles per day has already reached Srinagar, a Defence Spokesman said in Jammu.
Suction pumps and other engineering equipment from Vishakhapatnam have also reached the flood affected areas for relief work, he said, adding 12 sewage pumps from Delhi have also been dispatched to the Valley.
The all-party meeting in Srinagar issued a joint appeal to individuals and organisations within and outside the state to help the affected people in "every possible way".
A resolution passed at the meeting convened by Chief Minister Omar Abdullah to deliberate over flood crisis response expressed complete solidarity with the affected people and firmly resolved to rebuild the lives, livelihoods, private properties and public infrastructure.
PDP leader Mehbooba Mufti, Congress leader Saifuddin Soz and BJP's Jugal Kishore were among those who attended the meeting.
The Defence Spokesperson aid that Armed Forces and NDRF have so far rescued over 1,42,000 persons from different parts of J&K in the ongoing rescue and relief operations which entered the 12th day today.
Omar told PTI that the water levels are "receding" in central Kashmir but they are still above the danger mark and the government was waiting for it to go below the danger mark to "plug the breaches" on the banks of river Jhelum.
He also said that water levels in North Kashmir are rising which is a matter of concern and hoped that it would not be as bad as in the rest of the valley.
He said that as per the figures available with the state government so far, 129 people had lost lives in Jammu region whereas 30-35 people were found dead in Kashmir Valley.
The Defence Spokesman said communication equipment of Department of Telecommunication, Army, BSNL and some private companies have also been dispatched to restore the battered network.
