Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh visited rain ravaged area of Dharampur Sub division of Mandi district, today. Revenue Minister Kaul Singh Thakur, Chief Parliamentary Secretary Inder Dutt Lakhanpal, Chairman, Disaster Management Authority, Rajinder Rana, Member Executive Council HPU, Chandershekhar and concerned officers of the district also accompanied the Chief Minister.
The Chief Minister directed the officers and the departments concerned to immediately provide the adequate relief to the people whose houses were damaged due to rainfall which took a heavy toll of life and property. He said that Dharampur was the most affected area where floods and cloud bursts had created havoc last month.
The Chief Minister visited as many as seven villages of almost four Panchayats of Dharampur sub division. He met the people at Bardana, Dhardi, Dhar, Harnayala, Tanehar, Lower Tanehar, Bahalada and Thati which were the most affected areas where many houses including the land of the people was washed away in gushing waters.
He said that Channelization of all the nallahas should be done on priority so that protection could be provided to the houses situated along the banks. He also directed the Deputy Commissioner to provide adequate relief to the people and make immediate provision for their re-habilitation.
The Chief Minister also directed to provide adequate land to the people who want to shift from the place where their houses were completely destroyed. He said that adequate forest land was available near Sari in Dharampur Sub-division and if the people of Dhardi and Tanehar villages agree to shift over, formalities for transfer of land may be taken up without delay.
He also met the people en-route in these badly affected Panchayats and listened to their grievances and assured of every possible help. He said that despite the immediate relief distributed as per relief manual, more financial assistance would be made available to the affected families.
The Chief Minister also directed to open/repair all the roads on priority besides restoring the Irrigation schemes and electricity.
Kaul Singh Thakur, Revenue Minister, informed that the Government had received the exact amount of loss and was awaiting the financial assistance from the GoI. He said that Rs 78 crores had been distributed for providing immediate relief to the people who suffered loss due to rains in the State. An estimate of loss of last year amounting to Rs 252 crore was sent to the centre government out of which just one installment of around Rs 96 crore had been received by the State. The Government has again taken the issue with GoI to release the remaining amount soon so that the people could be provided immediate relief. He assured that adequate measures would be taken for identifying suitable government land for rehabilitating the people of flood affected Panchayats of Dharampur Sub Division.
Earlier in a meeting with the officers the Chief Minister was apprised that a sum of approximately Rs 68 lakh has been released till date as per relief manual to the affected families and the remaining amount shall be distributed to the left out families within a week.
As many as 383 families suffered losses during the heavy rains on 13th and 14th August last month and about 12 Panchayats bore the brunt of the fury of floods in the area.
