In what could be termed as a bad monsoon for the Hill State of Himachal Pradesh this year, a total of 173 deaths have occurred so far this season, triggering alarm bells in the State Government. Out of this, 20 deaths are due to flash floods, landslides and cloud burst etc. and remaining 153 deaths due to road accidents.
The figures came out in a review meeting of the Monsoons in the State, presided over by Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh.
Additional Chief Secretary (Revenue & Disaster Management) Tarun Sridhar gave details of rain fall data from August 1 to 7 which was above 55 per cent than normal in the week. He said although the overall rainfall was deficient by minus 6 per cent but the pattern was very erratic and disastrous which had led to loss of lives and property in the State.
In the meeting, Sridhar said 124 animals-- sheeps, goats, cows, buffalos and horses etc. died in the monsoon. Damage to road network including state roads, district roads and rural roads, besides bridges and culverts has been assessed to Rs 291 crore, whereas damage to water and irrigation schemes has been assessed to Rs 80 crore and Rs 3 crore to the electricity infrastructure. He said total damage and loss had been assessed to Rs 380 crore.
He said 280 roads were damaged and blocked during last 2-3 days out of which 200 would be opened today. He said about 740 schemes of IPH had been damaged out of which 540 have been restored.
Himachal Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh directed to activate the field staff and mechanism so that there was smooth flow of traffic during apple season during the monsoons.
The Chief Minister said there should be proper and immediate dissemination of warning and alerts and all the block roads to be reopened on war footing and alternate routes to be opened with continues monitoring.
Singh directed Agriculture and Horticulture departments to assess the loss and damage due to heavy rains. He said all departments should prepare and update memorandum of losses so that same is complied at State level and could be sent timely to the central government.
He also directed to maintain inventory of search and rescue equipments and train manpower. “Quick response teams (QRT) should be made operational in all the districts. All Deputy Commissioners should ensure that all roads are kept open and assess the damage to the public and private property. Tourist and general public should be stopped at district headquarters whenever any major road is blocked and no chaos to be created on highways,” the chief minister said.
Singh said all hydel power project authorities should ensure that no water was released from reservoirs without prior warning. He said they should ensure proper dissemination of warning and alerts at least 24 hours before releasing of water from dams and reservoirs.
Director Horticulture informed that apple transportation is smooth and more than 19 lakh apple boxes have been sent to various markets from the State. The representative from IMD briefed about the rainfall in the state and mentioned that there may be heavy rainfall in next five days with very heavy rains in isolated places.