According to state Revenue Minister Jagat Singh Negi, three teams of officials from the federal government would visit Himachal Pradesh on Wednesday to inspect the flood situation and determine the state’s damages.
Jagat Singh Negi said, “Tomorrow, three central teams will arrive in Chandigarh and travel to the Shimla district’s Mandi, Kullu, and Rohru sectors.
I want to thank my secretary Revenue and his team who had worked hard in this disaster situation. He will take care and coordinate with the team. So far we have assessed an estimated loss of over 4500 crore. The central teams will evaluate it further. Losses may increase further.” Alleging that the former Chief Minister and Leader of Opposition Jai Ram Thakur is trying to play politics on the matter, Negi said that this is not the time for it and instead, they should all focus on restoration.
“I don’t understand what Jai Ram Thakur Ji wants to tell, he has been visiting the state and he is meeting people in his car. He is not even getting down from his car,” he said in a swipe aimed at the former Chief Minister.
Countering the allegations raised by Jai Ram Thakur, he said, “As far as he is talking about the use of rescue helicopters by us, what is wrong in it? If the helicopter had not dropped me and CPS Sanjay Awasthi, we would not have successfully evacuated the tourists safely.”
Speaking about the dire situation in his state, Negi said, “Even today there was snowfall. Tribal shepherds and locals are still stranded there. Nearly fifty people are there; they are safe and they want the roads to open soon. Today, I have directed ADM Lahaul to open the roads.”
Asking the former Chief Minister to work collectively, the state Revenue Minister said, “I want to ask Jai Ram ji, instead of playing politics he should speak to me and inform me about the problems and issues. There is a need to work collectively at this point of time.”
Jagat Singh who led the rescue operation to evaluate the tourists from the Chandra Taal area of Lahaul-Spiti district said that the operation was challenging.
Speaking about the challenges, he said, “We were able to evacuate the stranded tourists as the Air Force after airlifting seven people tried another attempt but they failed. They did not want to risk the lives of those to be rescued as it was raining heavily and landing space was not there.”
“Hence it was decided that the helicopter would drop me and CPS Awasthi ji at Losar. From there we were able to reach the spot after clearing fourteen kilometers of road covered in snow. The snow was cleared by one driver overnight. 20 kilometers of snow was cleared. That is how we could bring out the standard tourists,” Negi explained the situation.
140 people have been hurt so far, and 12 individuals are still missing. Nearly 500 homes in Himachal Pradesh have suffered damage, in addition to 4643 homes that have suffered only partial damage. Due to rain and flooding, 133 stores have been damaged in the state, while 1008 cow shelters have also been affected. There have also been reports of over 1000 cattle losses.
