A compensation of more than Rs. 14 crore today was distributed to the disaster-affected families of Hamirpur district under the 'Punrvaas' Scheme, by Chief Minister Thakur Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu at Hamirpur today.
It is pertinent to mention here that the August Monsoons wreaked havoc in the State leading to the mass destruction of both public and private properties besides the loss of human lives. He provided rupees three lakhs each as the first instalment to 122 families whose houses were completely damaged totaling Rs. 3.66 crore.
The Chief Minister also handed over land documents to two homeless families of the district and provided financial assistance of rupees one lakh each for the repair of 555 partially damaged houses, totalling Rs. 5.55 crore to all of them.
Apart from this, he also provided a compensation amount of rupees one lakh each to the affected eight shop and dhaba owners. A sum of Rs 3.11 crore for the repair of 622 damaged cow sheds and financial assistance of Rs 50,000 each to 71 families, who lost their belongings in the disaster, was also disbursed by the Chief Minster.
Apart from this, a total compensation of Rs 55 lakh at the rate of Rs 10 thousand per bigha was given in lieu of 1103 kanal of land eroded due to landslides and floods and Rs 35.20 lakh at the rate of Rs 4 thousand per bigha for the damage caused to the crops on 1760 kanal land.
He also released an amount of rupees eight lakh to the cattle owners compensating for the death of their livestock.Chief Minister announced to open Chief Engineer office of HPSEB in Hamirpur and to provide Rs. 20 crore for undergrounding the electricity cables of Hamirpur city directing to complete the work within one year.
He also announced rupees two crores as the first installment for the construction of the Hamirpur bus stand and announced the construction of the hostel of Horticulture University in Neri to be constructed with an outlay of rupees three crore.
Reiterating the objective of the government for the uplifting the poor and needy, the Chief Minister said that he better understands the sufferings of common man and the poor and even because of financial constraints, the state government announced a special relief package of Rs. 4500 crore for the people affected due to the natural calamity, the worst of its kind.
"Despite having a debt burden of Rs. 75 thousand crore and liabilities of government employees worth Rs. 10 thousand crore, the state government has will help each family affected by the disaster", said Sh. Sukhu.
Taking the BJP leaders to task, the Chief Minister said that when a resolution was brought during the recently concluded Assembly session to declare the Natural Calamity in the State as a National Disaster, the BJP MLAs in Vidhan Sabha gave a deaf year and didn't respond on the issue fearing their central leadership.
The Chief Minister said that the Central Government imposed many restrictions on the state for implementing the old pension and added that Himachal Pradesh has a loan limit of Rs 6600 crore and the state government has so far taken a loan of Rs 4100 crore.
He reiterated that he had called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah, but till date, no financial assistance has been received as a special relief package. The State Government has so far sent claims worth Rs 10 thousand crore to the Central Government, he added.
Bringing amendments in the relief manual for natural disasters, the government enhanced the compensation package for a completely damaged house more than five times from Rs. 1.30 lakh to Rs. 7 lakh. Apart from this, in case of partial damage to a kutcha house, the compensation has been increased by 25 times from Rs. 4000 to rupees one lakh and of partial damage to a pucca house the same has been increased by 15.5 times to rupees one lakh.
The compensation for damage to shops and dhabas has been increased four times from Rs. 25 thousand to rupees one lakh and for the damage caused to the cow shed has been increased from rupees three thousand to Rs. 50 thousand.
The state government has increased the compensation amount of Rs. 2500 by 20 times and would provide assistance of Rs. 50 thousand for the loss of belongings to the tenants. The compensation on the death of milch and other animals has also been increased, he added.
He said that the compensation for the loss of agricultural and horticulture land has been increased from Rs. 3615 per bigha to Rs 10,000 per bigha and for the damage to crops has been increased eight times from Rs. 500 per bigha to Rs 4000. The financial assistance given for removing silt from agricultural and horticultural land has been increased from Rs 1384.61 per bigha to Rs 5000.
He said that the state government was making efforts to be self-reliant in the next four years and the most developed state in the country in 10 years. In a bid to generate its own resources, the revenue of Himachal Pradesh government was estimated to increase by Rs 1100 crore.
The state government will get additional revenue of Rs 500 crore from the auction of liquor contracts, he said.He said that the state government is going to fill the posts of 6000 teachers and more than 2000 Van Mitras. Along with this, 30 percent reservation will be provided to women in the upcoming police recruitment.
He said that the state government organized Revenue courts across the state on October 30 and 31, 2023, wherein out of 41,907 pending mutation cases, 31,105 were disposed off. Such courts will be again held on 1st and 2nd December, across the state, In this special court, pending mutation as well as partition cases will be disposed of on priority basis, he remarked.
He said that the state government was trying to close the pending cases related to revenue by January 20. The BJP government had closed its eyes on corruption during its regime, may it be police recruitment scam, mining scam of Rs 100 crore or cryptocurrency scam of Rs 2500 crore etc.
They didn't take any action foreseeing corruption under their nose. The Staff Selection Commission results were withheld after the present government exposed the recruitment racket. The recruitment of postcodes 817 and 939 has been stuck in the court for the last several years.
But due to the efforts of the state government, the hearing of these cases was expedited and the results of these codes will be declared soon.He also handed over certificates to 4 orphan children and land documents to a landless orphan in district Hamirpur.
He told that 252 children of the district have been adopted as Children of the State, out of which 105 children are up to 18 years of age and 147 children are in the age group of 18 to 27 years. The Chief Minister also provided tablets to 13 meritorious students of Hamirpur district under the Srinivas Ramanujan Digital Student Scheme.
Earlier, the Chief Minister also paid floral tributes to the statue of the Father of the Nation Mahatma Gandhi at Gandhi Chowk in Hamirpur. MLA Inder Dutt Lakhanpal said that the BJP merely played politics during the disaster and did not support the resolution brought in the Assembly.
He said that the present state government's special relief package of Rs 4500 crore for the disaster affected is an example for the entire country, whereas no help has been received from the Centre. Sh. Lakhanpal presented a check of Rs 5 crore to the Chief Minister on behalf of Baba Balak Nath Trust for the disaster relief fund.
MLA Suresh Kumar said that there was a huge loss of life and property in the state during the disaster, due to which many families were badly affected. He congratulated the Chief Minister for providing capable leadership to Himachal Pradesh during the tragedy.
MLA Ashish Sharma, Political advisor to the Chief Minister Sunil Sharma, District Congress President and Chairman of Kangra Cooperative Bank Kuldeep Singh Pathania also spoke on the occasion. Chairman Kangra Central Cooperative Bank Kuldeep Singh Pathania also handed over a check of Rs 89 lakh to the Chief Minister for disaster relief.
The Pensioners Association presented a check of Rs 71 thousand towards the Kosh.Earlier, Deputy Commissioner Hemraj Bairwa welcomed the Chief Minister.Chairman of Kangra Cooperative Primary Agriculture and Rural Development Bank, Ram Chandra Pathania, former MLA Manjeet Dogra, Congress leaders Dr. Pushpinder Verma and Abhishek Rana, were also present on the occasion amongst senior officers of the district.