The State Disaster Response Fund Tuesday declared the snowfall in November and December across Kashmir and in parts of Jammu division as ‘State Specific Natural Disaster.’

An official spokesman said, “Snowfall between 6th and 9th November in Kashmir division and 12th and 14th December in parts of Jammu division have been declared as a State Specific Natural Disaster for the purposes of providing additional relief/assistance to the affected farmers from SDRF, on the lines of the snowfall of November 2018

The decision was taken at an Executive Committee meeting of the SDRF chaired by Chief Secretary, B V R Subrahmanyam. Financial Commissioner, Finance; Principal Secretary, Home; Financial Commissioner,Revenue; Secretary DMR R&R and other senior officers attended the meeting.

Chief Secretary directed Secretary DMR R&R to work out additional requirement of funds in each district based on their projected demand and the funds available with them for meeting various disaster related expenses as per SDRF norms. Secretary DMRR&R will also work out the additional requirement of disaster related equipment in consultation with DCs to strengthen the response mechanism of the district administration to winter vagaries.

The Executive Meeting also approved allocation of Rs 2 Crore for placement at the disposal of PHE and I&FC Department for procurement of 10 Vehicle Mounted Mobile DG Sets to meet emergent power supply requirements of PHE installations for uninterrupted water supply to consumers.

The meeting was informed that new 22 Bulldozers and 16 Snow Plough Machines will arrive by January and February 2020 respectively. Besides,three sophisticated Snow Cutter Machines will arrive by March 2020. These machines will augment the requirement of disaster related equipment in the districts.