Though the Centre and State Government failed to release an estimated death toll, more than 3,000 missing persons' complaints have been lodged in Uttarakhand so far. The Prime Minister is expected to enhance the relief package to Rs3,000 crore from Rs1,000 crore announced earlier. For this, teams from Union Finance Ministry, World Bank and Asian Development Bank are slated to visit the State to assess the damage. The State Cabinet on Monday approved the formation of Uttarakhand Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Authority (URRA) to oversee all reconstruction and rehabilitation works. The Cabinet also decided to ban construction on river banks. Apart from this various decisions were taken by the Central and State Governments to rebuild Uttarakhand and rehabilitate the affected people. These measures were announced by Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna, Union Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh and State Congress in-charge Ambika Soni in Dehradun on Monday.
The Chief Minister lauded the people of Uttarakhand for their courage and support to the stranded tourists. "More than one lakh stranded people have been evacuated. The death toll is a serious issue and while the armed forces personnel reported seeing 500-600 bodies, so far 3,068 missing persons' complaints have been lodged in the State. We cannot simply release an estimated toll as there are certain regulations to be followed before declaring a person dead," said Bahuguna. The formation of URRA by statute is aimed at ensuring the desired level of reconstruction and development as we are planning to rebuild the State with the next 100 years in view, he added Addressing the media, Jairam Ramesh said that the URRA will help instill public faith in the Government by ensuring transparency in the utilisation of funds for disaster relief and reconstruction works while also looking into geological, environmental and various other aspects in execution of the works.
Jairam Ramesh also said that the relief package to Uttarakhand is expected to increase to about Rs3,000 crore with officials of Finance Ministry, World Bank and ADB arriving here to assess the damage. "I have agreed to the CM's demand for increasing the job guarantee period under MNREGA from 100 to 150 days in the disaster-affected areas apart from which we have also asked the State to submit a revised labour budget which if approved may increase Uttarakhand's MNREGA budget for 2013-14 from Rs450 crore to about Rs700 crore.”
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World Bank, ADB teams to visit State to assess damage
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I am told that about 1,400 villages have lost road links so funds will be provided under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana to rebuild roads and bridges," he said, adding that the Centre will also consider the demand of the CM to shift 238 villages requiring immediate rehabilitation.
Ambika Soni criticised leader of the Opposition in the lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj stating, "I have come to know about Swaraj seeking dismissal of the State Government for its inefficiency in rescue and relief measures. Such a statement at this time is unfortunate because the Indian National Congress does not discriminate while undertaking rescue and relief efforts."
Supporting the State Government, she said that the death toll cannot be released without substantial proof. She defended AICC vice president Rahul Gandhi's visit to Uttarakhand stating that he had travelled 200 km by road to Gauchar. "When even mediapersons were taken on helicopters to disaster-affected areas, Rahul should have access to it too. His chopper landed near Kedarnath when there was no rescue work was being conducted there," she said.
Referring to Uttarakhand Assembly Speaker GS Kunjwal's recent statement that death toll to be more than 10,000, she said, "I talked to Kunjwal and asked the basis for this figure and he said that members of the public had told him that more than 10,000 people had died in the disaster."
Stating that all actions have been made time bound in Uttarakhand, Soni added that the Congress will also hold regular briefings in the State capital on disaster-related activities apart from which a booklet will also be distributed by the party detailing the relief and rescue measures.