Chief Secretary Dr. Shrikant Baldi has asked the Public Works, Rural development, Irrigation and Public Health and other departments to work out on an action plan to avoid heavy damages to human lives and properties in the future by making improvement in technique and infrastructure.He was presiding over the meeting with the members of the Inter-Ministerial Central Team (IMCT) held here today. The IMCT headed by Joint Secretary of Union Home Ministry Sanjeev Kumar Jindal visited various affected areas of the state to assess the damages on spot.The Chief Secretary stressed on developing disaster-resilient infrastructure to face the challenges of cloudbursts, flash floods and landslips. He said that a study would be conducted with the help of experts before next rainy season to minimize the damages due to roads, electricity lines and drinking water schemes etc. due to heavy rains.He directed the Public Works, Irrigation and Public Health and rural Development departments to identify vulnerable points so that they could be make disaster resistant to avoid heavy damages every year during the monsoon period.Dr. Baldi asked the Horticulture department to ensure timely reporting of damages to the horticulturists and payment of compensation well in time. He also underlined the need to deploy adequate men and machinery well before the onset of monsoon to counter any emergency situation with ease.
He thanked the IMCT for early visit to the state to assess the actual losses and urged for putting up the case of the state with the government for adequate compensation as the state has suffered a huge loss due to heavy rains during this monsoon. Joint Secretary of Union Home Ministry Sanjeev Kumar Jindal said that during the visit of the IMCT to various parts of the state, heavy damages were witnessed especially at Kathalag in Ghumarwin sub-division, Dhani and Lahru in Nurpur area of Kangra district, Rohru and Nerwa in Shimla district and the affected people showed satisfaction over the rescue and relief work done by the local administration.Principal Secretary, Revenue, Onkar Chand Sharma said that the state has witnessed normal monsoon this year with just 6 percent rain deficit but it was during the heavy rain spell for three days in the month of June that maximum damages occurred due to cloudbursts, flash floods and landslides. He said that major incidents of 201 landslides and 14 cloudbursts were reported during this monsoon. The state has suffered losses around 1200 as per the initial assessment due to landslides, cloudbursts and flash floods during this monsoon besides loss to 81 human lives and 493 animals.Director-cum-Special Secretary, Revenue and Disaster Management D.C Rana informed that a detailed memorandum would be soon submitted to the government of India for seeking allocation of funds after assessment of actual total losses by all the departments.