Inter-ministerial central team to visit Himanchal Pradesh to assess losses during monsoon

SHIMLA: An inter-ministerial central team constituted by the union Ministry of Home Affairs will be on a four-day visit to Himachal Pradesh from September 4 to assess the situation arising out of the recent cloudbursts, flash floods and landslides, a state official said on Monday. As per preliminary reports, 79 persons have lost their lives and the state has suffered a loss of Rs 1,138 crores in rain-related incidents during the monsoon.

At least 25 persons lost their lives in rain-related incidents from August 16 to 18.

The central team would visit parts of the state from September 4 to 7 to assess the situation, the official said.


They will also hold a meeting with state-level officials at Peterhoff in Shimla on Friday.

Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur on August 31 had informed the state Assembly that financial help would be sought from the Centre to undertake relief and restoration works on account of Rs 1,138 crore loss suffered by the state due to rains.

Replying to a debate in the Vidhan Sabha on the situation arising out of the damage caused due to cloudbursts in Chamba and Chopal, he had said, "This is an initial assessment as the Revenue Department is yet to assess the losses during the rains."

Himachal Pradesh will place before the Centre a complete memorandum of losses so that it could be adequately compensated to undertake the restoration work, he had said.

Meanwhile a state official said, "The central team is visiting Himachal Pradesh under new rules of the Union Home Ministry."

As per the new rules, the visit of the inter-ministerial team to the affected areas will take place to assess the damage even before receiving a memorandum for a detailed assessment from the state concerned, he added.

According to the new rules, the team will be constituted immediately in the aftermath of any natural calamity of severe nature and will visit the affected state to have a first-hand assessment of damages caused and relief work carried out by the administration.

The inter-ministerial team will again visit the state concerned after the submission of the memorandum for a detailed assessment to make the final recommendation for the allocation of additional funds, he added.

In line with the new rules, various central teams are visiting Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura, Bihar, Uttrakhand, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Kerala.

Earlier, the inter-ministerial central team used to visit the affected state only once after the receipt of the memorandum.

The centre had recently released Rs 64.49 crore to Himachal Pradesh under the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) for losses incurred due to avalanches and hailstorm during the 2018-19 winter, the official said.