Reaching out to the victims in Uttarakhand, Haryana government on Monday offered to reconstruct 25 of its villages, out of several villages that have been adversely affected by rain, floods and landslides.
Addressing a press conference here, Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda said that he made the offer to reconstruct the villages during his meeting with Chief Minister of Uttarakhand Vijay Bahuguna in Dehradun.
He said that as a result of the Centres set up by Haryana Government in Dehradun, Rishikesh and Haridwar, reports of 1044 stranded pilgrims hailing from Haryana.
They have been received by their respective families and most of them are safe. He said that all out efforts are being made to ensure the safe return of the pilgrims to their respective destinations.
Hooda said that after visiting the Chief Minister of Uttarakhand, he had left his helicopter there to undertake rescue operation and the pilot informed him that 65 stranded persons have been taken to safe place with the help of the helicopter.
He said that the Haryana Government and the Haryana Pradesh Congress Committee had offered to give planes for the relief operation, but the Uttarakhand Government did not accept the offer because the terrain of the affected area is not favourable for planes.
So far, apart from sending 25,000 blankets to Uttarakhand, one lakh doses of vaccine required to treat cattle suffering from ‘Gal Ghotu’ disease have been sent.
Meanwhile all MPs and legislators of Haryana representing the Congress would donate their one month’s salary for the rescue and relief operation being conducted in Uttarakhand to help the those affected by the recent natural calamity.
In reply to a question about the recent floods in Haryana, Hooda said that there was unprecedented discharge of 8.06 lakh cusecs of water at Hathini Kund Barrage as against its capacity of about 7.5 lakh cusecs of water.
He clarified that the Hathini Kund Barrage was like a regulator and not a dam, therefore, it was wrong to say that Haryana released that much of water.
He said that Haryana has been stressing the need for construction of three storage dams on Yamuna which included Renuka, Kishau and lakhwar Vyasi. However, the State Government has constructed Kaushalya dam on river Yamuna.
He said that he has already ordered a special girdawari to assess the damage caused to the crops. The people would be compensated for the loss suffered by them.