Jammu and Kashmir Minister Syed Altaf Bukhari today strongly criticised Nirmal Singh's reported remarks about the Centre's flood rehabilitation package, saying the Deputy Chief Minister statistics in this regard were "superficial" and shocking.
"The remarks of deputy chief minister have shocked me not only as a minister but in capacity of a flood victim who has personally witnessed the scale of devastation during the floods in September last year.
"Even Rs 44,000 crore relief package as was proposed by the previous government is in no way sufficient to compensate losses suffered by people during the devastating deluge," Bukhari said in a statement here.
The minister was responding to the recent remarks by the Deputy Chief Minister in which he said Rs 3,600 crore provided by the Centre for rehabilitation of the flood victims in the Valley were sufficient.
"Nirmal Ji's figures have shocked me as I do not know where from he got these superficial statistics," Bukhari said.
He also advised his cabinet colleagues from BJP to desist from making "irresponsible statements that create confusion among flood victims".
"Our Common Minimum Programme that aims at good governance and building bridges to narrow down the gaps should have been our guiding principle. I would humbly request my cabinet colleagues again to refrain from creating a precarious situation that will lead us nowhere," the senior PDP leader said.
