Himachal Pradesh has calculated a loss of around Rs 567.32 crore due to rains this year in the State.
Presiding over a review meeting to assess the damages caused due to incessant rains in the State in first half of August, Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh on Wednesday stressed on the need to provide adequate funds immediately to those who had suffered losses besides restoring the village link roads and bridges.
He said the priority should be to keep the roads of villages, far flung and remote areas through. The Chief Minister also directed to provide one-time money for permanent solution of landslip on National Highway 21 near Hanogi Mata en-route Kullu.
The maximum loss of around Rs 396 crore was suffered on account of damage to roads and bridges, followed by irrigation and public health where it stands as Rs 99 crore, Rs 70 crore by electricity department and damage to community and Government assets has been estimated as Rs 3.17 crore. The loss suffered by Agriculture and Horticulture departments was pegged around Rs 4.29 crore and Rs 15.86 respectively.
In a move towards restoring normalcy, Rs 106.40 crore had been distributed to all districts and line departments to immediately take up relief measures and provide succour to the people who have suffered losses.
In the pre-monsoon meeting under the chairmanship of Chief Secretary, Deputy Commissioners were told to ensure evacuation of labour colonies and settlements along the river beds and culverts along the roads to be cleared of debris. Besides, adequate number of pipes for water supply, cables and poles were stocked much earlier.
Additional Chief Secretary, PWD Narinder Chauhan said all the roads besides State and National highways blocked due to landslides were immediately restored within hours. He said that one bailey bridge each had been placed in all four zones of PWD to meet exigency, if any. Apart from this, a sum ranging between Rs 15 to Rs 30 lakh had been provided to each sub-division for restoration and repair works.
He said 166 roads were damaged which had been restored and three bridges were washed away. Around 1,426 rural water supply schemes, 580 irrigation schemes, 30 urban water supply schemes, 15 flood protection works and 16 sewerage schemes were affected and all were temporarily restored. Besides this, structures damaged includes 146 fully damaged Kuchha and Pucca houses, 547 cowsheds, 12 Water mills (Gharats), 20 shops and loss to private property was estimated as Rs 8.19 crore.
It came out in the meeting that though there has been sufficient rainfall, yet it was 14 per cent less.
Vice-Chairman, State Disaster Management Authority, Rajinder Rana asked for bringing change in relief manual as the compensation amount in some cases was a meagre sum. He also advocated for pushing in more funds in areas or places which suffered more loss as compared to others.
Irrigation and Public Health Minister Vidya Stokes, Chief Secretary VC Pharka, ACS, Revenue Tarun Shridhar and senior officers of IPH, PWD and HPSEBl were also present in the meeting.