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Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sokho has requested Rs 2,000 crore from the center as temporary aid and said relief guide will be changed to enhance compensation for flood victims in the state.
Heavy to torrential rains over the past week triggered landslides and flash floods, blocked roads and damaged infrastructure in Himachal Pradesh.
“I have spoken to Union Home Minister Amit Shah and asked him for a temporary exemption of Rs 2,000 crore,” Sokho said on Friday.
The state suffered losses of Rs 4,000 crore and the figure is likely to rise as estimates continue to flow in, he said.
Announcing that compensation of Rs 1 lakh will be given to each affected family, Sokho said changes will be made in the relief guide to enhance compensation.
According to the guide, each disaster victim is given 5,000 rupees as aid at the moment.
Speaking to reporters here, Sokho said that a disaster relief fund has been set up to help the afflicted people, and all the ministers in his government and the Congress have decided to donate one month’s salary to help the victims.
He added that the Indian Administrative Services Associations, Himachal Administrative Services Officials and others have also decided to contribute a day’s salary to the fund.
“We will ask the BJP legislators to do the same,” Sokho said and also appealed to the public to contribute.
The government has developed a three-point strategy – rescue, evacuation and rehabilitation. The prime minister said that after rescuing some 67,000 of the 75,000 tourists, of whom 250 were stranded in the snow-capped Chandratals of Lahaul and Spiti, the focus was now on restoring the infrastructure.
There are still some tourists in Kasol and Tirthan Valley. He said they are all safe and have been provided with food and other essential items.
In the past 15 days, the state government has issued Rs 1,100 crore, including Rs 610 crore to the Public Works Department, Rs 218 crore to the Jal Shakti Department and Rs 180 crore to the state disaster relief fund, he said.
Sukhu explained that the ₹180 crore received from the center was the annual aid provided to the state during the monsoons and assured that the state government has yet to receive financial aid. He also urged the Union government to release the outstanding Rs 315 crore outstanding since last year.
Since the onset of the monsoon in Himachal Pradesh on June 26, 108 people have lost their lives, while 12 are missing. As many as 667 homes were completely damaged and 1,264 partially damaged, according to the state’s emergency response centre.
17 deaths were reported in the last 24 hours, six of them in road accidents in Mandi and Shimla districts. The death toll includes those killed in road and rain-related accidents.
More than 860 roads in the state remain closed. Transport Ministry officials said the Himachal Road Transport Corporation has suspended 994 routes while 260 buses were on their way.
Police teams are now focusing on inaccessible areas with difficult terrain and low mobile connectivity to track people who are stranded.
Acting Director General of Police Satwant Atwal told PTI that rescue operations are underway and police teams are heading to difficult inland areas where roads have been blocked due to floods and landslides.
She said a number of tourists stranded in Kasol, Manikaran and nearby areas refused to go out without their vehicles and decided to stay behind until the situation returns to normal.
She added that tourists said they preferred to get in their cars and wait for the roads to reopen.
A landslide near Dunkhara on the Kasol-Bhuntar road has prevented vehicles from moving, forcing tourists to trek to reach the other side.
Noting some tourists’ reluctance to leave without their cars, Sokho said on Thursday that police will provide them with a receipt allowing them to take their cars when roads reopen.
Families of tourists are still calling the police to find out their whereabouts. Police are now looking for hotel details, vehicle numbers and photographs as well as last names, numbers and locations to trace the tourists.
Light to moderate rain drenched some parts of the state and the local meteorological office issued a ‘yellow’ warning of heavy rain in isolated places in the state until July 18.
(This story was not edited by the News18 staff and was published from a syndicated news agency feed – PTI)
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