‘Expedite rehabilitation work in flood-hit Ladakh’

NEW DELHI - The reconstruction and rehabilitation work in Jammu and Kashmir’s flood-hit Ladakh region needs to be fast-tracked before the onset of winter, during which road links to the mountainous desert region remain cut off, the MP from the area demanded Thursday.

Ghulam Hassan Khan, who represents the Kargil-Ladakh constituency in the Lok Sabha, said there was a severe shortage of labour and construction material as people need to build their houses razed by flash floods last week.

Khan said the affected people have to rebuild their houses before winter starts setting in because life would get difficult in the sub-zero temperatures.

“The Indian Army and the Indian Air Force are doing a good job. But they won’t be able to carry out reconstruction work on their own. The government should sanction a big relief package for the region and expedite relief work,” he said, while raising the issue during zero hour.

He said the road links to Ladakh would also be closed by

October-end and there was very little time left to conduct the relief operations.

“I am afraid people would suffer a lot if the reconstruction work is not fast-tracked,” he said.

At least 185 people were killed in flash floods caused by a sudden cloudburst in the Ladakh region last Friday.

Situated at 3,254 m above sea, the sparsely populated Ladakh bordering Pakistan and China is spread over 45,110 sq km comprising the main town Leh and 12 adjacent villages. Leh is 434 km from Srinagar and 474 km from Manali in Himachal Pradesh.