September 1
Visiting cloudburst-hit Leh, President Pratibha Patil today assured survivors every kind of support and appealed to them not to lose heart. Though she did not announce additional relief, she did say that the assurances by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh during his recent visit would soon become a reality.

On her maiden visit to Leh, Patil reached the Solar Valley Relief Camp in this village around noon. Without delay, she began interacting with the 1,000-odd survivors present and accepted their memorandums.

“I have come here to see your plight and share your grief. We are with you at this time of tragedy. We love you and sympathise with you,” Patil said, while distributing shawls and sweaters to survivors in the relief camp. “Money alone will not be enough. We all must show extra courage to give rebirth to the dreams of Leh,” she said.

The cloudburst on the intervening night of August 5 and 6 had led to flash floods and mudslides, which claimed around 175 lives and injured about 400 people, besides causing widespread damage to public and private property.

The President then moved to the Army’s Rinchen Auditorium to meet Army and Air Force troops.

Commending the special efforts of the forces, she said, “My deepest sympathies go out to those who have lost their loved ones and to those uniformed personnel who have suffered during this calamity.”

Patil expressed a desire to meet all officers present there. Interacting with them later, she lavished praise on medical teams for restoring hospital facilities within hours of the catastrophe and treating nearly 550 injured.

“The special efforts to locate missing persons and rescue the stranded, including foreign tourists, show the hard work done by everyone with or without uniform and I personally admire it,” she said.

Before leaving for New Delhi after a nearly two-hour visit, the President said, “I am really impressed with the determination and courage of our jawans. Jammu and Kashmir is an integral part of the country and I commend all those personnel who have left their homes to work in high altitude areas. All of you have always done a great job and we expect the same in future.”

Jammu and Kashmir Governor NN Vohra, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, Deputy Chief Minister Tara Chand, Union Minister for New and Renewable Energy Farooq Abdullah and Chief of Army Staff General VK Singh accompanied the President. 

Leh, September 1
They waited eagerly but patiently, all 1,000 of them, a prayer on their lips and hope in their hearts. As soon as President Pratibha Patil arrived at the Solar Valley Relief Camp here, the requests began: “Give our children free education, waive off our loans...”

Stanzin Dolma, who lost her elder daughter, a student of Chandigarh’s Jawahar Navodya Vidyalaya (JNV), apprised the President about the plight of the survivors: “My younger daughter’s education has been sponsored by the Union Government with the efforts of The Tribune but there are hundreds waiting for relief.” She also submitted a memorandum on rebuilding of houses before October when the severe winter sets in. “Our worries are increasing with every passing day,” she said. Several other flood survivors also sought help from the President. “We have lost all that we ever owned. Please waive off our family loan,” appealed Tashi Dawa of the Tashi Gyatsal area here. He had lost his uncle, aunt and a nephew in the catastrophe.