Himachal Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh on Friday said that adequate relief will be provided to the people whose houses were damaged and land washed away due to cloud bursts and intermittent rains during last month in the State.
Virbhadra Singh during his visit to four Panchayats of Dharampur Sub division of Mandi district, which suffered massive damage during rains, directed the officers and the departments concerned to immediately provide adequate relief to the people whose houses were damaged due to rainfall.
He said that Dharampur was the most affected area where floods and cloudbursts had created havoc last month.
The Chief Minister visited as many as seven villages of almost four Panchayats of Dharampur sub division. He met the people at Bardana, Dhardi, Dhar, Harnayala, Tanehar, lower Tanehar, Bahalada and Thati which were the most affected areas where many houses including the land of the people was washed away in gushing waters.
He said that channelisation of all the nallahas should be done on priority so that protection could be provided to the houses situated along the banks. He also directed the Deputy Commissioner to provide adequate relief to the people and make immediate provision for their
re-habilitation.
The Chief Minister also directed to provide adequate land to the people who want to shift from the place where their houses were completely destroyed. He said that adequate forest land was available near Sari in Dharampur Sub-division and if the people of Dhardi and Tanehar villages agree to shift over, formalities for transfer of land may be taken up without delay.
He also met the people en-route in these badly affected Panchayats and listened to their grievances and assured of every possible help. Virbhadra said that despite the immediate relief distributed as per relief manual, more financial assistance would be made available to the affected families.
The Chief Minister also directed to open/repair all the roads on priority besides restoring the Irrigation schemes and electricity.
During the visit, Revenue Minister Kaul Singh Thakur, Chief Parliamentary Secretary Inder Dutt lakhanpal, Chairman, Disaster Management Authority Rajinder Rana, Member Executive Council HPU Chandershekhar and concerned officers of the district also accompanied the Chief Minister.
Kaul Singh Thakur, Revenue Minister, said that the Government had received the exact amount of loss and was awaiting for the financial assistance from the Central Government.
He said that Rs78 crores had been distributed for providing immediate relief to the people who suffered loss due to rains in the State. An estimate of loss of last year amounting to Rs252 crore was sent to the Central Government out of which just one installment of around Rs96 crore had been received by the State. The Government has again taken the issue with the Centre to release the remaining amount soon so that the people could be provided immediate relief, he added.
The Minister assured that adequate measures would be taken for identifying suitable Government land for rehabilitating the people of flood affected Panchayats of Dharampur sub division.
Earlier in a meeting with the officers, the Chief Minister was apprised that a sum of approximately Rs68 lakh has been released till date as per relief manual to the affected families and the remaining amount shall be distributed to the left out families within a week.
As many as 383 families suffered losses during the heavy rains on August 13 and 14 last month and about 12 Panchayats bore the brunt of the fury of floods in
the area.