Uttarakhand minorities panel submits report

Dehradun: The Uttarakhand Minorities Commission has sent its report to the National Commission of Minorities regarding loss of life and property during the recent floods.

Commission chairman Narinderjit Singh Bindra said he had sent his report to the NCM.In his report, Bindra informed the NCM that 10 persons, including three Muslims, died in and around Gobind Ghat the gateway to the Hemkunt Sahib shrine.

Two Sikhs died due to heart attack at Ghagaria, while the body of an unknown person was found in the “valley of flowers”, Bindra said in his report.

Four Sikhs died in Patal Ganga due to landslides and three members of the Muslim community were washed away in Gobind Ghat, he told PTI.

The UKMC said the Alaknanda river had washed away 127 two-wheelers, 51 fourwheelers and a helicopter in Gobind Ghat area during the floods last month.

The loss of property, mainly of the Gurdwara Gobind Ghat complex, was to the tune of Rs 50 crore, Bindra said.

Bindra, who is also the vicechairman of Shri Hemkunt Sahib Management Trust, demanded that the government should compensate the trust, which looks after facilities at the base station at Gobind Ghat, to rebuild the shrine’s infrastructure damaged in the floods.

He said full insurance amount should be given to owners of all vehicles which were washed away, even though many of them had only third-party insurance.
The NCM had recently asked the UKCM to submit its report so that it could give recommendations to central and state governments to compensate the victims.

Ajaib Singh, an NCM member, had written a letter recently to Bindra in this regard.

Source: HT