UML DEMANDS INFORMATION ON FLOOD DAMAGE Kathmandu, 23 June: A CPN-UML delegation led by party Chairman Jhala Nath Khanal has demanded that the interim election government first collect detail information of the persons killed, injured or displaced due to the floods and landslides caused by the heavy monsoon rains in the country’s far-western and mid-western regions during the second week of June, RSS reports Besides Khanal, UML leaders from far-western and mid-western regions were part of the delegation which met chairman of the interim election government Khil Raj Regmi yesterday, according to a statement issued by party secretary Bishnu Poudel. The delegation advised the government to take stock of the damaged infrastructures of government buildings, drinking water projects, hydropower plants, health centers, roads and other physical properties of the people. During the meeting, the UML team suggested that the government devise short- and long-term plans for rescue and rehabilitation programmes based on the detailed information of the damage caused by the floods and landslides. The delegation asked the Regmi government to make arrangements for shelters and food, medical facilities to the displaced families and education for their children, which all are all related to basic amenities, the statement said. UML has also demanded that the government provide two lakhs rupees to each of the displaced families whose houses have been completely destroyed rendering them homeless and asked the government to allocate adequate budget during this fiscal year to address the problems faced by the flood-affected victims. The delegation also drew the government’s attention to carrying out rescue and relief operations to Nepali people stranded in the Badrinath and Kedarnath areas of Uttarakhand, India, where they were making pilgrimage when the floods and landslides caused by heavy cloudburst wreaked havoc in the Himalayan region on June 16 and 17. It is still not known how many Nepali people had made their pilgrimage to the holy shrines and how many of them have gone missing. Nnnn