Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh said that a total of 50 persons have lost their lives till date during the ongoing monsoon season in the State and a total loss of movable and immovable properties is about Rs 2,892 crore.
On the first day of monsoon session of Himachal Pradesh assembly, Chief Minister gave his statement in the house amid uproar by BJP MlAs, against the Government for not allowing a debate restricting the legislators from raising the issue of losses in incessant rains in their constituencies.
Singh in his speech said that State experienced an early monsoon this year. From June 15 to 17, incessant and heavy rains lashed various parts of the State coupled with cloudbursts at several places.
“The State experienced an unprecedented heavy rainfall, which was 576 per cent to 1,358 percent above the normal during these three days. Kinnaur and Sirmour were the worst affected districts,” said Singh
Giving the details, he said that 50 persons have lost their lives in the State till date. Kinnaur reported 23 deaths, seven deaths reported in Shimla, four in Kangra, five deaths in Sirmour, six in Mandi, three deaths in Kullu, one death in Hamirpur and one death in Chamba.
A total of 24,142 animals including sheep, goat, cattle and mules have perished due to excessive rainfall and snowfall and 5,287 housing structures including Pucca and Kuchha houses, cowsheds, labour sheds, shops etc. have been fully or partially damaged in various parts of the state due to landslides triggered by heavy rain and snowfall.
The overall loss to private property is estimated to be about Rs 200 crore.A total of 4,377 roads in the State have been affected resulting in huge losses and disruption of normal life. The losses on this account have been assessed as Rs 1221.45 crore. The entire stretch of National highway from Wangtu to Sumdo has been washed away at various places.
A detailed memorandum of losses seeking liberal financial support from the National Disaster Response Funds (NDRF) has been submitted to the Central Government and a central team for assessment of losses has already visited the state from July 23 to 25.
In the meantime, the State has obtained from the Government of India, the first installment of State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) to the tune of Rs 68 crore and we too have released the state share of Rs 15 crore, he said.