Himachal’s rain damage assessed at Rs 1250 croreWith the state government having assessed damages from the recent rains at Rs 1250 crore, chief minister Virbhadra Singh is to meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh soon and seek financial assistance for providing relief to the affected people.
A high level meeting of revenue officials and district administrators chaired by the chief minister, earlier in the day, took stock of the rain damages and put the total loss at Rs 1250 crores.
The loss of human lives was put at 96 dead, majority of which were in the Ghanvi cloud burst in Shimla district. Besides that, 3524 cattle heads have perished, 4,000 houses were washed away and 8200 cowsheds collapsed killing livestock. Vast chunks of washed or eroded agriculture and horticulture lands that was damaged in the rains was taken into account for assessing the total loss, a government spokesman said.
The chief minister said that a central committee would soon visit the state to assess the losses due to heavy rains. “Necessary relief as per the revised Relief Manual was being delivered to the affected people besides immediate relief was disbursed on the spot by the local administration,” he said. The prime minister would soon be apprised about the damages suffered in the state, said Virbhadra.
The government has decided upon a minimum charge of Rs 50,000 per bigha as lease money from hydel project implementation. The government would also consider bringing legislation to the minimum market rate of the land being sold at low prices, especially in urban areas after observation of all codal formalities so that registration fee could be charged accordingly, he said.
About illegal encroachments on government land the chief minister said that for early disposal of revenue cases ,a panel of lawyers in all district would be created, who would defend revenue cases in different courts. He asked the district authorities to carry out the removal of encroachments and from government land and dispossess the illegal encroachers so that the same land was allotted to the landless and needy persons.
