Kashmir Pressing Delhi for Aid for Quake-Hit Victims

Associated Press Patients were evacuated from a hospital in the town of Bhaderwah in Jammu and Kashmir after an earthquake struck the region on May 1.

NEW DELHI -After an earthquake in Jammu and Kashmir state on May 1 left thousands of people homeless and caused 6 billion rupees in infrastructure damage, state officials said Tuesday that they are petitioning the central government for a special relief package.

The state government is seeking 6.07 billion rupees ($120 million), Vinod Kaul, revenue secretary for the state, told India Ink on Tuesday. The state cabinet sent a request to Delhi on Tuesday evening after the cabinet cleared the amount earlier that day, he said.

State officials say that the 5.8-magnitude earthquake at least partially damaged 70,000 houses in the mountainous districts of Doda, Kishtwar and Ramban, and that public infrastructure like roads and water utilities in these areas have also been severely hit.

On Saturday, Omar Abdullah, the chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir, approached Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to provide relief for the earthquake.

Tanvir Singh, Mr. Abdullah's political secretary, noted that the state government had released 250 million rupees soon after the earthquake. “But after a more intensive survey of the damage, we realized that this was not enough for rehabilitation and reconstruction,” he said.

Mubarak Singh, deputy commissioner of Doda, said that some of the state relief funds are being used to provide aid to injured persons and also to procure tents for people whose homes were destroyed or badly damaged.

Three people died in the earthquake and 90 people have been injured. Out of the 70,000 houses damaged, state officials say, 1,200 were destroyed and 15,000 have been severely damaged and are no longer safe to occupy.

Balwant Singh Mankotia, head of the Jammu and Kashmir National Panthers Party, who visited Doda and Kishtwar districts on Friday and Saturday, said that the prime minister had promised to deliver 10,000 tents but that only 3,400 tents had been sent three weeks after the earthquake.

“The locals told us that even these tents had gone to influential people in the area, but the common man had not received them,” said Mr. Mankotia, a lawmaker, whose party staged a protest on Monday.

State authorities said that the hilly terrain made movement difficult but the tents were being gradually dispatched by the central government.

“I cannot guarantee 100 percent transparency, but we are doing our best to provide tents to those who need it most,” said Mr. Tanvir Singh.

Akhtar Hussain Zarger, a 59-year-old watchmaker, said his ancestral home in the Doda district had been demolished. “We were given a tent by the government, but one tent is being issued for four or five families,” he said in a phone interview.

“These tents are not very big, and we are scared of snakes and insects because it is open ground,” he said. “What will we do if it rains?”

Mr. Zarger added that more tents were needed urgently because the majority of people were still scared because of the continuing aftershocks, and they were choosing to sleep outside.

“These are continuing. Even today, we felt a small tremor around 4:45 in the evening,” he said Tuesday.

Mr. Kaul, the revenue secretary, also stressed the need to act quickly to reconstruct houses before the rainy season sets into the mountainous region around August and September, and before some areas in the terrain get cut off by the snow during the winter months.

“We are really rushing for this,” he said, pointing out that 70 percent of the area is accessible by road but relief supplies have to be taken manually in some parts.

According to state government standards, the compensation for a fully damaged house is only 35,000 rupees, Mr. Kaul said, but under the special relief package, the state government had calculated 200,000 rupees for a fully damaged house, 100,000 rupees for a severely damaged house and 50,000 rupees for a partially damaged house.

“There is a need for relaxing these norms; otherwise it's not possible
to construct the homes,” he said.