The State Government is yet to provide roofs over the heads of 662 families who lost their houses in 2013 disaster in Pithoragarh. These hapless families are still living in rented accommodations.
The fact is that out of the aforesaid 662 families, house for 601 families are under -construction, it is not certain when for the construction for the remaining would begin.
However, HC Semwal, District Magistrate, Pithoragarh, has said that the financial assistance is being provided as per norms to all the 662 families for house construction in installments. Since 61 families have not yet started the construction of their houses, they have been asked to start the construction immediately. Otherwise, the financial assistance that has been granted to them for the same purpose would be taken back, he added.
At the same time, the district administration has also emphasised on the need to maintain quality of work while carrying out the construction. It may be recalled that out of the aforesaid 662 families, houses of 648 families collapsed while the rest 14 houses were on the brink of collapse, said the officials concerned of the Pithoragarh district administration.
Out of these 648 completely damaged houses, 490 houses were in different parts of Dharchula tehsil, 148 in Munsyari tehsil, five in Didihat tehsil, four in main Pithoragarh area and one in Gangolihat tehsil, while the rest 14 houses were located in the vulnerable zone in some other parts of the Pithoragarh district, the officials concerned of Pithoragarh district administration informed. More so, since winter has already set in, affecting normal life, the adverse weather conditions may further delay the ongoing relief works in the natural disaster- hit areas in the district.