SHIMLA: Himachal Pradesh CM Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu on Friday sought Rs 2,000 crore from the Centre as interim aid and said the relief manual will be changed to enhance compensation to flood victims in the state.In Himachal Pradesh, recent heavy to extremely high rainfall caused landslides, flash floods, blocked roads, and destroyed infrastructure. Sukhu stated, “I requested an interim relief of Rs 2,000 crore from Union Home Minister Amit Shah.”
He continued by saying that the state had lost Rs 4,000 crore, and that when more estimates come in, the amount is expected to rise.Changes will be made to the relief manual, according to Sukhu, who had offered Rs 1 lakh to every injured household. This will increase the victims’ compensation. Each disaster victim currently receives Rs 5,000 in aid, according to the handbook. Speaking to media in this location, Sukhu announced that a disaster relief fund had been formed to aid those in need and that all of his government’s ministers and Congress MLAs had committed to donate one month’s salary to aid the victims.The chief minister noted that associations of officers from the Himachal Administrative Services, Indian Administrative Service, and other services have also committed to donate one day’s salary to the fund. Sukhu urged the public to contribute and added, “We will ask the BJP legislators to do the same.” Three goals were established by the government: rescue, evacuation, and restoration. The focus is now on infrastructure reconstruction, according to the chief minister, after around 67,000 of the 75,000 tourists—including 250 who were trapped in snowbound Chandratal in Lahaul and Spiti—have been rescued and evacuated.There are still some tourists in Tirthan Valley and Kasol. He claimed that they are all secure and have received food and other necessities. The state government has given out Rs 1,100 crore in the last 15 days, of which Rs 610 crore went to the Public Works Department, Rs 218 crore to the Jal Shakti Department, and Rs 180 crore to the State Disaster Relief Fund, according to him. He emphasised that the state administration has not yet received financial aid and clarified that the Rs 180 crore received from the Centre was the annual support given to the state during the monsoon. Additionally, he urged the Union government to release the Rs 315 crore that has been held back since last year.Since the start of the monsoon on June 26, there have been 108 fatalities, up from 91 on Thursday. Twelve individuals are still missing. The State Emergency Response Centre estimates that 1,264 homes have sustained partial damage and up to 667 have suffered complete destruction. Six of the 17 fatalities reported in the last 24 hours were caused by car accidents in the districts of Mandi and Shimla. Along with deaths from rain-related mishaps, the death toll also includes people killed in car accidents. In the state, there are still around 860 blocked roads. According to representatives of the transport department, the Himachal Road Transport Corporation has stopped operating on 994 routes and is holding 260 buses in transit.In order to find stranded people, police teams are increasingly concentrating on difficult-to-reach places with challenging geography and poor mobile coverage. According to interim Director-General of Police Satwant Atwal, rescue efforts are under way, and police personnel are relocating to the difficult interior regions where highways have been closed by landslides and floods. Many tourists who are stranded in Kasol, Manikaran, and other areas have decided not to leave without their automobiles and will remain till things return to normal, she said. She continued, “The tourists indicated they preferred to take their cars and wait for the roads to reopen.The vehicles were unable to proceed due to a landslip on the Kasol-Bhuntar Road at Dunkhara, thus the tourists had to walk to the opposite side. Sukhu said on Thursday that the police would give them a receipt so they could take their vehicles when the roads reopened, noting that some tourists were reluctant to leave without their automobiles. Tourists’ families are still contacting the police to find out where they are. In addition to names, numbers, and last whereabouts, the police are now looking for information on hotels, vehicle numbers, and images to identify the visitors who have not been in contact with their families. Some areas of the state had light to moderate rain, and the local Met office has issued a “yellow” caution for heavy showers at isolated locations through July 18.
