Himachal Pradesh government has submitted an interim report of Rs 1981.86 crore loss due to heavy rains to the central team. In this, a loss of Rs 957.09 crore has been estimated to the Public Works Department and Rs 725.07 crore to the Jal Shakti Department. There has also been heavy damage to other departments and private property. A high-level inter-ministerial team of the Center, which arrived in Himachal during this monsoon season to assess the damage so far, held a virtual meeting with Chief Secretary RD Dhiman and high officials of all concerned departments on Tuesday. After extensive discussions with the central team, Chief Secretary RD Dhiman directed the higher officials of all the concerned departments to prepare a detailed report of the damage by the end of the rainy season and activate the field officers.
Sunil Kumar Barnwal, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Home Affairs, who was leading the team, other members from Dharamshala, other members Subhash Kumar and Deepshekhar Singhal from Bilaspur attended the meeting through video conferencing. The central team has been told that a total of 278 people have died and 522 have been injured due to the disaster in the state so far during this monsoon season. Nine people are still missing. 169 houses have been completely damaged, While 825 houses were partially damaged. 72 shops and 887 gaushalas were also destroyed. During this, 587 animals have also been killed.
The Chief Secretary said that this is only an interim report and these figures are likely to increase significantly in the coming days. The suggestions of the central team will also be included in this report. Chief Secretary RD Dhiman said that on the special request of the state government, for the first time, the central team visited the state during the monsoon season from August 28 to 30. This helps in assessing the actual situation.
