Bahuguna asks Central team to submit report on damages soon

To expedite rehabilitation work in cloudburst-hit two districts of Uttarakhand, Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna today asked the Central team assessing damages in affected areas to submit its report to the Centre at the earliest so that the state could get funds. 

Bahuguna made the request when the team, appointed by the Centre for assessing damages in Uttarkashi and Rudraprayag districts due to the natural calamity, met him at his residence here today. 

He said though the state government has spent the amount received from the Centre, as an interim relief package, over reconstruction of damaged roads and restoration of power supply and water pipelines, so "much more is still needed for rehabilitation work in the affected areas". 

Senior Administrative Officer in the Ministry of Home Affairs M Gopal Reddy who led the central team, told Bahuguna they have inspected the calamity-hit areas in the two districts and prepared an elaborate assessment report which would soon be submitted to the Union government. 

The central team which returned to Dehradun today after visiting the calamity hit districts of the state also met senior government officials here including Chief Secretary Alok Kumar Jain, who suggested that relief parameters laid down for hill areas should be made flexible considering their complex topography. 

More funds from the Centre will help the state government effectively carry out relief work in the remote hill areas, he said. 

The chief secretary told the visiting team that the natural calamities in the two districts damaged 2,425 projects of different departments and the state needed Rs 612.44 crore to revive them, another Rs 236.22 crore for their maintenance and at least 376.22 crore more to make them fully operational again. 

The series of cloudbursts which hit Uttarkashi and Rudraprayag districts in August and September this year respectively flattened homes, killing over 50 people, rendering hundreds homeless and causing widespread damage to roads besides disrupting power and water supply lines.

BS