Heavy rains continue to wreak havoc in Himachal Pradesh. With this second bout of incessant, torrential rains, the state has incurred losses amounting to Rs 7,500 crore. However, the budget that has been received from the Centre so far to deal with the disaster was last year’s due. Consequently, Chief Minister Sukhu travelled to Delhi on Friday evening to request the Central government to release an interim relief amount of Rs 2000 crore. During his Delhi visit, CM Sukhu is scheduled to meet with officials from various departments in the national capital in an attempt to bring in more financial help from the government to deal with the disaster.
Notably, among the losses incurred are both private and government properties worth crores that have been destroyed in the state due to the heavy rains, floods, cloud bursts and landslides that have been occurring since Sunday and the first bout that occurred in July. The amount of Rs 7,500 crore is likely to increase once the full assessment is completed. The Centre also sent a team between 18 to 21 July that was tasked to assess the damage in Himachal Pradesh. Still, the state has not received a relief amount till now. After the central team’s visit and assessment, Himachal demanded an interim relief amount of Rs 2,000 crore from the Centre. Before leaving for Delhi, the Chief Minister surveyed the disaster-affected areas of the Sirmaur district. From Shimla, the Chief Minister went directly to Satun by helicopter. Sukhu visited Ambon, Katenchi Dhank, Sirmauri Tal, CCI Rajban and Nariwala before returning. He also took stock of the devastation in the flood-affected areas of Kandwala. The Chief Minister was earlier scheduled to visit Pandoh, the disaster-affected area of Mandi on Friday, which was suddenly cancelled yesterday morning,
