(MENAFN- The Peninsula) Union Minority Affairs Minister Najma Heptullah yesterday announced a relief package worth Rs1.2bn for Jammu and Kashmir. The money will be spent on skills training programmes, scholarships for students and rebuilding institutions like schools and hospitals destroyed by floods.

State Chief Minister Omar Abdullah yesterday visited flood-hit areas of Srinagar to oversee rescue and relief measures undertaken by the state administration.

An official statement said the chief minister directed officers to ensure that dewatering of the inundated areas was done on war footing so that people living in those areas could resume their day-to-day lives. He also asked for providing potable drinking water, adequate electric supply, free rations and necessary medical facilities to the affected people to reduce the threat of an epidemic.