During his visit to disaster-affected areas of Kullu district today, Chief Minister Thakur Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu enquired about the loss caused by the flash floods and cloudbursts in different regions of the district and interacted with affected families assuring them of all possible assistance from the State Government. The Chief Minister departed for Kullu from Jubbarhatti Airport, Shimla in an Air Force helicopter, carrying rations and other essential supplies.
The Chief Minister also inspected the damaged roads, bridges and private properties of local residents at Vashisth Chowk, Manali, Bahang and Old Manali. Also visited the devastation sites at Akhara Bazaar in Kullu where heavy landsides buried few houses causing deaths.
He expressed condolences to the families of those who lost their lives, and instructed the administration to accelerate relief and rescue operations. He also directed BRO officials to restore the damaged road at the earliest. He also inspected damaged Bhootnath and Bhuntar bridge during the visit.
While interacting with the media in Kullu, the Chief Minister said that this year’s monsoon season had caused widespread devastation across the state which led to heavy loss of life and property. He said that during the past four days, rainfall had caused further damage in various parts of the state.
The state government was extending every possible support to those affected and directed district administrations across the state to provide maximum assistance to affected families, he stated. He further said that the administration had engaged the services of Army Chinook and MI-17 helicopters to rescue devotees stranded during the Manimahesh Yatra in Chamba district and have airlifted them safely from Bharmour to Chamba.
From there, the devotees were sent to their homes. He said that 605 devotees were safely evacuated from Bharmour and transported free of cost to their destinations in HRTC buses on Thursday. He said that keeping in view the adverse weather and road conditions the government had decided to cancel all type of examination in state.
The Chief Minister said that the government was also making every effort to transport the produce of farmers and orchardists from disaster-affected regions to the markets. At present, the top priority of the government was to restore roads and ensure essential services such as electricity and water supply at the earliest.
He said that families, whose houses were completely destroyed were being provided with financial assistance of Rs. 7.70 lakh by the state government. Compensation would also be given for the loss of livestock. Sh. Sukhu said that the state government was extending assistance to affected families from its own limited resources, as no support had so far been received from the Central Government.
He said that the state government stood firmly with disaster-hit families in this difficult hour. He said that the government had requested the Centre to provide one bigha of forest land to each affected family to help them resettle in safer locations.
As 68 percent of the state’s land was categorized as forest land and the state government cannot provide such land without Central approval. He urged the BJP and its MPs to seek support of the Central Government to approve the allotment of one bigha of forest land per family, along with a special relief package.
He said that the BJP leaders were active only on social media and they have done nothing on the ground for the disaster-hit people. On the other hand, Congress leaders were reaching out to the people and working to alleviate the hardships caused by the disaster.
He said that the state government had also prepared a project worth Rs. 3,000 crore to obtain assistance from the World Bank for disaster management to help rebuild and rehabilitate the affected families. Earlier, the Chief Minister also conducted an aerial survey of disaster-affected areas of Mandi and Kullu districts.
MLAs Sunder Singh Thakur and Bhuvneshwar Gaur, APMC Kullu Chairman Mian Ram Singh, Deputy Commissioner Torul S. Ravish and other senior officers were present during the visit.