Rain loss in Himachal pegged at Rs 1,981 crore, memo submitted to Centre

Tribune News Service

Shimla, August 30

An interim memorandum of loss of Rs 1981.86 crore was submitted to the Central team, said Chief Secretary RD Dhiman who held a high level meeting through with Inter-ministerial team of the Centre, which was on a three-day visit of the state to take stock of the damage in the current monsoon season.

The break-up of losses

• Rs 957.09 cr to PWD
• Rs 725.07 cr Jal Shakti Dept
• 278 lost their lives due to flash floods, cloudbursts, etc
• 522 sustained injuries
• 9 persons missing
• 169 houses completely damaged
• 825 partially damaged

The members of the Central team led by Sunil Kumar Barnwal, Joint Secretary (Disaster Management) of the Ministry of Home Affairs, held wide discussions with the Chief Secretary and other officers of the concerned departments through video conferencing from Dharamsala and Bilaspur and also received the interim memorandum regarding the damage in the state.

Dhiman said that for the first time a high level inter-ministerial team of the Centre had visited Himachal Pradesh in the mid monsoon season from August 28 to 30 on the request of the state government to assess actual situation.

The losses included Rs 957.09 crore to the PWD and Rs 725.07 crore to the Jal Shakti Department. Apart from this, 278 persons have lost their lives in various incidents of flash floods, cloudbursts, landslides and house collapses during this season in the state, while 522 people have been injured and nine persons are still missing. As many as 169 houses were completely damaged, while 825 houses were partially damaged. As many as 72 shops and 887 gaushalas were damaged and 587 heads of cattle have also been reportedly killed.

The Chief Secretary said that this was an interim report and the figures were likely to increase in the coming days as 20-25 days were still left for the monsoon season. Damage assessment was still being done at many places. Final damage report would be submitted by the end of the season.

The Joint Secretary Barnwal said that two different groups of the Central team took stock of the situation by undertaking extensive tour of the disaster-affected areas of Kangra, Chamba, Mandi and Kullu districts.

After extensive discussions with the Central team, the Chief Secretary directed officers of the concerned departments to prepare a detailed report of the damages by the end of the season. Principal Secretary Revenue, Onkar Sharma presented the report regarding the loss.

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