Citing the destruction wreaked by heavy rain and landslide incidents in the recent past, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Harish Rawat met the Prime Minister Narendra Modi and sought immediate central assistance of Rs 500 crore for the State. At the present rate, the cost of damage caused by heavy rains may rise to Rs 1,500 crore by the end of September, which is beyond the State’s capacity to level, he said. In response to Rawat’s invitation to Modi for the Char Dham pilgrimage, the PM said that he will tour the Char Dham region after the rains during September- October regarding the strengthening of the road network here.
Meeting the Prime Minister in New Delhi on Tuesday, the Uttarakhand Chief Minister briefed the Prime Minister about the damage suffered in Uttarakhand due to recent disaster incidence and sought resources and other assistance from the Central Government. Referring to villages identified as vulnerable to disaster, Rawat sought resources from the Centre to enable relocation of these villages to secure locations. He said that in the ongoing rainy season a preliminary estimate has evaluated loss from such incidence at about Rs 1,000 crore. This cost of damage can increase to Rs 1,500 crore by the end of September month, he said, while adding that with its limited resources, the financial cost of damage is beyond the state’s capability. Rawat stressed on the need for Central assistance to Uttarakhand for reconstruction of damaged schemes and for ‘normalisation’ of sensitive areas. The CM said, “There are more than 370 villages vulnerable to disaster being located in landslide zones.
About Rs 10,000 crore assistance amount will be needed to shift these villages and rehabilitate the inhabitants in secure locations. large area of land will also be needed for rehabilitation of people living in the vulnerable villages but about 70 per cent of the State’s geographical area is under forest cover and government land is not available for this rehabilitation,” he said. Rawat further suggested that forest land could be made available for this rehabilitation to compensate for which the land area of vulnerable villages could be transferred to the forest department. Stating that the task of relocating such villages will be a highly technical and difficult task, Rawat said that the Government of India should set up a committee to monitor the entire procedure of rehabilitation. This committee could be comprised of officials from disaster management, Union Finance ministry and officials concerned of the State, he suggested.
“Climate change has affected a rise in the frequency of heavy rain, cloud burst and landslide incidence in Uttarakhand in the past few years. This year too, in addition to loss of human and animal life, property and infrastructure has also suffered severe damage especially in Chamoli, Uttarkashi, Tehri and Pithoragarh districts. With active support from the National Disaster Response Force, the proactive approach taken by the State government has helped save many precious lives. However, the area affected by heavy rainfall is wide with considerable damage to roads, power and water supply, agriculture, forests and other important spheres,” said Rawat.