Pratibha Singh meets Montek Singh Ahluwalia

Mandi MP Pratibha Singh called on Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission at Yojna Bhawan in New Delhi and apprised him that Himachal Pradesh has suffered total loss of about 2800 crore in recent flash floods.

Pratibha Singh said that Mandi Parliamentary Constituency was worse affected from the excessive rain. Mandi MP informed Montek Singh Ahluwalia that so far state Govt has released Rs 130 crore to Deputy Commissioners and various department for undertaking restoration and repair work to bring normalcy in the state. She said that total 3802 houses have been fully or partially damaged in various parts of the state and around 100 crore Rs loss has been estimated to private property.

Mandi parliamentarian told Ahluwalia that more than 4100 roads have been badly damaged in flash floods and loss on this account has been estimated to around 1218.71 crore. She said that entire stretch of national highway from Wangtu to Sumdo has been washed away and loss on this account has been estimated around 40 crore. She added that loss of around 240 crore has been estimated to 2622 water supply schemes in the state and told that loss of around 200 crore has been caused to kharif crops in 20573 hectare land. She said that horticulture sector also affected by the flashflood as loss has been estimated to the tune of Rs 323 crore and total 81457 hectare fruit production area has been badly affected due to flash floods.

Pratibha Singh informed Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission that electricity infrastructure has also been severely damaged due to flash floods and loss on this account has been estimated t to around 455 crore while damage to community assess / loss of fisheries / loss of transport and loss of health department has been estimated Rs 165 crore, Rs 5 crore, Rs12.83 crore and Rs 1.25 crore respectively.

Singh requested the Montek Singh Ahluwalia to expedite the various ongoing developmental projects in the state and release the balance payments under various centrally sponsored schemes to accelerate the development process of the state.