Additional Chief Secretary Omkar Chand Sharma today chaired a debriefing meeting with the Inter-Ministerial Central Team (IMCT) here. The team was on a three-day visit to the State to assess the damages caused by various natural calamities in the State during this monsoon.
Omkar Chand Sharma said that the state government has submitted a comprehensive memorandum to the central government on the losses caused by natural disasters, in which it has been told that the estimated loss in the state is about Rs 1,613.50 crore.
The state had to face many challenges during the monsoon and during this period, roads, irrigation schemes and residential areas were affected on a large scale due to landslides, cloudbursts and floods in the state. He said that the state faced 46 incidents of landslides, 12 cloudbursts and 39 floods in various areas, which caused huge loss of life and property.
He said that 174 people lost their lives in these incidents, while 144 people lost their lives due to rain. Apart from this, about 206 people were injured, 31 are missing and 222 livestock were killed. During this period, 1405 houses and animal shelters were also damaged. An estimated Rs 621.77 crore was allocated by the state government for immediate restoration of damaged roads and bridges.
He said that during this period, water supply infrastructure was also damaged. 5505 water supply schemes, 1213 irrigation projects, 99 sewerage projects, 69 flood protection works and 57 hand pumps were damaged, causing a loss of Rs 540.88 crore to the state. Omkar Sharma said that the State Government is committed to enhance disaster preparedness and is coordinating with the National Disaster Response Forces and local communities to deal with potential disasters in future.
He stressed the need for additional resources from the Central Government to deal with natural disasters. He said that due to geographical topography, the State is extremely vulnerable to natural disasters. Despite all efforts to deploy early warning systems, Doppler radars and emergency personnel in disaster-prone areas, the affected areas require central assistance for relief and rescue operations.
He urged for improving the relief manual keeping in view the requirements of hilly States like Himachal so that timely relief could be provided to the affected people and help in reconstruction. Disaster Management Director and Special Secretary D.C. Rana thanked the IMCT for conducting on-the-spot assessment of the disaster affected areas. He gave the team detailed information about the damage caused by the disaster in the state and requested for generous central assistance to meet the immediate needs of the state.
The IMCT assured all possible assistance to the State and said that the State’s request for liberal financial assistance would be considered sympathetically. Additional Chief Secretary (Forest) Kamlesh Kumar Pant, Principal Secretary (Transport) R.D. Nazim, Secretary Public Works Department Dr. Abhishek Jain, Secretary Rural Development Rajesh Sharma, Secretary Priyanka Basu, Joint Secretary Mihir Kumar and other senior officers of the state government were also present in the meeting.
