The State irrigation department (north) has demanded about Rs 490 crore for building permanent infrastructure in natural disaster-prone areas of Kumaon division. Some parts of the Kumaon division, including Pithoragarh, Bageshwar to name few, were the worst affected due to natural disaster incidents like floods, landslides this monsoon season.
Keeping in view large-scale damage that the Himalayan State has to experience during monsoon season every year, the State irrigation department (north) has now decided to develop a long-term strategy to minimise the damage demanding about Rs 490 crore for building permanent infrastructure in some vulnerable areas of the region.
Out of the aforesaid about Rs 490 crore, the department concerned has demanded about Rs 275 crore for Pithoragarh, about Rs 61 crore for Nainital, about Rs 41 crore for Udham Singh Nagar, about Rs 22 crore for Almora, about Rs 26 crore for Bageshwar and about Rs 63 crore for Champawat to carry out permanent infrastructure in these areas.
“Keeping in view the huge damage that the State has to suffer every year, we have now decided to evolve a long term strategy under the disaster management plan,” DC Singh, Chief Engineer, the State irrigation department (north), Kumaon division, told The Pioneer.
“Now works can be started on the proposed projects only when the fund is made available,” added the Chief Engineer. The fact is that apart from its long-term planning, the State irrigation department (north) has already submitted proposals worth Rs 52 crore to the Government for carrying out immediate repair works in the disaster-hit areas of Kumaon division.
Out of about Rs 52 crore, the department concerned had demanded about Rs 17 crore for Pithoragarh, Rs 14 crore for Nainital, Rs 5 crore for Udham Singh Nagar, Rs 2.5 crore for Almora, about Rs 6 crore for Bageshwar and about Rs 7 crore for neighbouring Champawat districts for carrying out repair works, added the officials concerned.
If the past experiences are any indication, both the terai and hilly regions of the Himalayan State are equally vulnerable to the natural disasters and the rivers’ fury. Though the State Government has now announced to take certain measures like constructing embankment along the riverbeds to minimise the impact of the natural calamities in different parts of the State, it is to be seen how it prepares itself to deal with the natural calamity in future.