Calamity-hit Haryana gives Rs 5cr to Himachal for relief works

Chandigarh: With 35 people killed in flood-related incidents in Haryana, Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Wednesday announced to give Rs 5 crore to neighbouring Himachal Pradesh, which was also hit by calamity, for relief works.

The amount would be contributed to Aapda Rahat Kosh – 2023, Himachal Chief Minister Sukhvinder Sukhu said.

Khattar told the media here that the government is providing all possible help in the state, both financially and medically, for those who have been adversely affected due to heavy rainfall in the past.

He said heavy to extremely heavy rainfall received in most of the parts of Haryana as well as in neighbouring states for three consecutive days from July 8 that triggered flood-like situation in the state, throwing normal life out of gear and causing unfortunate loss of lives, animals and extensive damage to properties and infrastructure.

Sharing the rainfall statistics, the Chief Minister said from July 8 to 12, the state received 110 mm of rainfall, which was 387 per cent more than normal of 28.4 mm.

The normal rainfall in Yamunanagar is 32.8 mm, 32.9 mm in Kurukshetra, 53 mm in Panchkula and 58.5 mm in Ambala, while this time they received 842, 814, 699 and 514 per cent rainfall more than normal.

"As a result, almost all rivers in Haryana -- the Yamuna, Markanda, Tangari, Ghaggar, and the Saraswati, besides all drains were in spate. There were breaches and overflows at many places leading to flooding of fields, roads and habitations causing loss of lives and damage to properties," the Chief Minister said.

He said 12 districts -- Ambala, Fatehabad, Faridabad, Kurukshetra, Kaithal, Karnal, Panchkula, Panipat, Palwal, Sonipat, Sirsa and Yamunanagar -- were declared flood-affected.

A total of 1,353 villages were affected.

While refuting the allegations levied by the Opposition that the flood situation was caused due to increasing mining in rivers, the Chief Minister said such statements are illogical to make as flood and mining have no connection.

He said legal mining in riverbeds as per the mining plan can rather have the potential of increasing the water intake capacity of rivers and rather help preventing floods in low-lying areas as excess built-up of silt is removed in the mining process.

Khattar also suggested that excess slit should be removed by way of mining and otherwise from canals as well so that their water capacity in canal beds can also increase.

He said during the Flood Control Board meeting held in January Rs 930 crore was approved for tackling flood relief works.

The Chief Minister said the proposal to construct a dam of 500 metres behind the Hathnikund barrage is being taken up with the Himachal government.

He said due to floods caused by excessive rains, there has been a loss of approximately Rs 500 crore as per the initial estimate in the state out of which Rs 281 crore has been received from the Central government as disaster relief amount.

Also, an additional amount will be demanded from the Centre for flood relief.

The Chief Minister said around 6,629 people have been evacuated and 41 relief camps set up.

A total of 1,774 people are currently housed in these camps.

The Chief Minister said that to provide timely medical help, the government has organised 2,878 special medical camps for the public.

So far, more than 37,500 people have been provided treatment in these camps. At least 35 deaths have been reported so far.

The Chief Minister said 35 deaths have died in the state and compensation to the next of kin of the deceased would be given as per the provision of disaster funds.

"For loss of human lives a compensation of Rs 4 lakh will be given, while in case of loss of limbs, the compensation will be Rs 74,000 per person with disability between 40 and 60 per cent. A sum of Rs 2,50,000 per person would be given in case the disability is more than 60 per cent," said the Chief Minister.

The Chief Minister said 125 houses were fully damaged whereas 615 houses were reported as partially damaged.