Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi has urged the Central government to declare massive damages during recent monsoon fury in Himachal as National Disaster and help the state government generously for giving relief to affected people, besides carrying out restoration work.
The Congress leader said this after visiting calamity hit areas of Kullu and Mandi districts on Tuesday along with Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu.
Interacting with media persons at Manali she lauded the efforts of people of the state in the hour of distress by voluntarily contributing in apda rahat kosh to help the affected people. The Congress leader also appreciated the efforts of the CM and his Cabinet colleagues for monitoring relief and rescue operations at ground level for several days.
She said, “Although the state government was doing far beyond its limited resources to provide succor to the affected families, it wouldn’t be possible to restore normalcy and carry restoration work without liberal aid from the Central government.”
The Congress said, “The Central government should not discriminate with opposition ruled states in such difficult times and announce aid for Himachal government, besides helping fruit and vegetable growers as they have also suffered huge losses.”
The Chief Minister said, “During his recent visit to Delhi, he met the Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the dinner hosted by the President for the members of G-20 Nations and urged the PM to declare the recent calamity in Himachal as a National Disaster.”
He said, “The state government has submitted a report to the Central government about damages of Rs 8000 crore till August 10 and after another spell of heavy rains and flash floods from August 10 to 14, losses of nearly Rs 12000 crore have been assessed .”
The Congress General Secretary also visited calamity affected areas in Darang Assembly constituency of Mandi district and also talked to affected people; several Congress leaders accompanied her during her visit.