Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Thakur Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, during his three-day visit to Mandi district, visited various disaster-affected areas of the Seraj and Nachan Assembly Constituencies and took stock of the damage caused due to heavy rains and cloudbursts.
Talking to mediapersons at Sundernagar in Mandi district on Friday, the Chief Minister said the government acted swiftly to restore essential services in the affected areas. He said the government has opened almost all the major roads in these areas and that the work of opening the link roads of the disaster-affected area is going on a war footing.
He said 50 JCB machines were engaged to open the roads of the affected areas from the very first day of the disaster. He added that the road up to Chail Chowk, Bagsyad, Thunag, Janjehli, and Chhatri would be brought under CRIF so that it could be made a composite road.
He said that the road and bridges from Thunag to Janjehli have suffered extensive damage. At present, they have been restored temporarily, and there will be no shortage of funds for restoration works. The government has so far released ₹7 crore for these relief and rescue works so that the restoration work can be accelerated further, he stated. He also said that the Deputy CM and PWD Minister had already visited and assessed the damages in the disaster-affected areas.
The Chief Minister said that there has been unprecedented loss in these areas, and the government and the district administration are providing relief and other materials to the affected families day and night. He said livestock, crops, and vegetables have also suffered a lot due to this disaster. He added that the state government would provide compensation to the affected families for buying clothes and for the loss of livestock, besides offering all possible help from its own resources.
He said at many places in the disaster-affected area, people would need to be relocated. In this regard, he will seek permission from the Central Government to provide forest land to the people so that they can be settled at safer places. He urged the BJP MPs of the state to support the state government's proposal to get permission from the Central Government for this purpose.
Sukhu said that in the next two days, Technical Education Minister Rajesh Dharmani would be in the disaster-affected areas and will take stock of the relief and rescue operations there. He said that if the affected families live in rented houses, the state government will give them Rs 5000 per month rent in rural areas and Rs 10,000 per month rent in urban areas. He said that heavy rains have also caused a lot of damage in the Dharampur area of Mandi district as well and MLA Chandrashekhar was helping the people day and night in relief and rescue operations.
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