The State has suffered losses of Rs. 1217.29 crores due to excessive rains, flash floods and cloud burst during the current monsoon season. Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur revealed this while presiding over a meeting held here today to review monsoon related losses and damages in the State from 1st July to 17th September, 2018.The Chief Minister said that Public Works Department suffered maximum losses of Rs. 735 crore due to rains in form of damages to roads, bridges, breast walls, retaining walls etc. He said that it has been observed that although maximum damages were due to heavy rains but unplanned dumping of debris was also another cause of damages to the roads. He said that proper dumping sites must be identified and it must be ensured that the debris was disposed off in the marked and identified places. He said that effective cross drainage and side drainage facilities should be maintained to ensure proper drainage system.Jai Ram Thakur said that Irrigation and Public Health Department also suffered losses of Rs. 328.78 crore. Several major, medium and minor drinking water supply and irrigation schemes had been damaged due to landslides and heavy rains. The agriculture and horticulture sectors also suffered a loss of Rs. 88.81 crore while power sector suffered a loss to the tune of Rs. 24.50 crore.He said that the State Government has provided Rs. 229.64 crore for carrying immediate restoration and repair works of the damaged infrastructures in the State.
The Chief Minister said that as many as 33 cloud bursts and 391 landslides took place in the State which resulted into huge losses to the property. As many as 264 persons lost their lives during the period which includes 199 deaths due to road accidents caused by damaged roads. He said that one company of NDRF had been positioned at Nurpur in Kangra district besides daily monitoring of water level in major rivers was also being ensured. For the first time, landslide sensors were installed at Kotrupi and Aut in Mandi district for early warning of landslides to avoid any untoward incidents.The Chief Minister said that State Government would soon submit memorandum of losses and damages to the Government of India for financial assistance.Additional Chief Secretary Revenue Manisha Nanda said that pilot testing of Common Alert Protocol Platform developed by NDMA for early warning and alert system was tested in the State recently. Special Secretary, Revenue and Disaster Management D.C. Rana gave a detailed presentation on the flood damages and rainfall in the State.Additional Chief Secretaries Dr. Shrikant Baldi and Anil Khachi, Principal Secretary Onkar Sharma, Additional Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister Sanjay Kundu, Secretary IPH Devesh Kumar, Secretary Education Arun Kumar Sharma, Engineer-in-Chief Irrigation and Public Health Anil Bahri were present on the occasion among others.