Supreme Court rejects Centre’s plea, seeks J & K flood reports

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday asked the Centre to consider forming a unified agency for proper coordination of relief work in flood-affected Jammu and Kashmir.

The apex court also noted that “a calamity and disaster” as huge as the one witnessed in J & K “deserves a national response.”

It has asked the Centre to apprise it on Monday of the urgent steps und-ertaken to accelerate rescue, relief and rehabilitation operations.

The SC noted that “massive floods in the Kashmir Valley have created horror” affecting more than 400 villages and stranding five lakh people.

Though the Supreme Court appreciated the efforts of the Centre and armed forces, it declined the suggestion of AG Mukul Rohatgi that it was not appropriate at this juncture for the judiciary to intervene and entertain petitions, while citing examples of natural calamities in Uttarakhand and other states.

Meanwhile, even as the IAF and the Navy decided that their personnel would contribute a day’s salary to the Prime Minister’s Relief Fund in view of the floods in J & K on a voluntary basis, the 1.13-million-strong Army has not followed suit so far.

Asked about this, an Army officer said no decision in this regard had been taken as yet but pointed to the efforts of over 30,000 Army personnel in relief and rescue operations.

Over 1,27 lakh persons had been rescued till 6 pm on Friday by the armed forces and NDRF in the state.