The Congress on August 23 urged the Union government to declare Himachal Pradesh floods as a national calamity and allocate ₹10,000 crore for rehabilitation and rebuilding of the State. The party also requested the chair of both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha to allow parliamentarians to use the MP-Local Area Development (MPLAD) funds for the State.
At a press conference, party’s in-charge for Himachal Pradesh Rajeev Shukla said that in three spells of rain (July 7-15, August 10-14 and now), the State had seen unprecedented destruction. As per the State government data, so far 330 persons had lost their lives, 35 people were missing and 12,000 houses were washed away. The loss was estimated at ₹13,000 crore. “The State has not received the attention it deserves. I appeal not only to the Union government but also to everyone to contribute whatever they can for rebuilding the State,” Mr. Shukla said.
The Congress leader said the Centre so far had only allocated ₹200 crore, which was grossly inadequate in comparison to the scale of the tragedy. This was a human tragedy and political calculations should not dictate the rescue, rehabilitation and rebuilding in the State, he added.
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Three requests
“We have three requests, one the Centre must declare it as a national disaster, second it should allocate ₹10,000 crore for reconstruction of the State and the third we request the Lok Sabha Speaker and the Rajya Sabha Chairman to allow diversion of MPLADs funds for the State,” he said.
Mr. Shukla said the State government had been vigilant about rescuing tourists. “About 75,000 tourists and their 17,000 vehicles have been evacuated within 48 hours of the fresh spell of rain. About 350 tourists were stuck at Lahual Spiti, and they have been evacuated to a safer place. The State administration and Chief Minister Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu have been working very hard, but the destruction has been unending,” he said.
The current tragedy, he said, was of the same scale as Bhuj earthquake and Uttarakhand floods that affected the Kedarnath temple.
