Govt should immediately repair the roads affected by the disaster in Kasumpti constituency: CPI(M)
CPI(M) Local Committee, Kusumpati organized a session to assess the damage caused by the disaster and to provide immediate relief to the affected people, which was presided over by Pratap Thakur. State and district committee member K Jagat Ram and in-charge K Jagmohan Thakur specially participated in this session. Colonel Jagat Ram said that the terrible disaster that has hit the entire state this rainy season has had a very bad impact on the lives of ordinary people. To bring it back on track, the state and central governments need to work in coordination.
Due to heavy rains, floods, and landslides, there has been huge damage to the personal property of the people in the state including land, houses, horticulture, vegetables, agriculture, animal husbandry, etc., which has not been adequately assessed yet. A large number of private vehicles have been washed away and buried in floods and landslides. If it is estimated correctly then the loss is many times the estimate made by the government. In the present situation, it is a very difficult task to compensate for this. However, the state government has declared it a “state disaster”. But corresponding efforts are not being made to compensate for the loss.
The party estimated that as per the government estimate, there has been a loss of Rs 8649 crore in the state. But this estimate can go up to Rs 12000 crore. So far 381 people have lost their lives and 36 people are missing. According to the government’s assessment, so far 2466 houses have been completely destroyed and 10648 homes, 312 shops along 5517 cow sheds have been damaged. About 16,000 animals have also died in this. Still, 246 roads including three national highways are closed for traffic in the state. Forests and trees have also been heavily damaged due to landslides.
The only means of transportation in the state is road, which has been badly damaged by floods and landslides. Almost all the national highways that connect the state to other parts of the country are either closed or in a deplorable condition. Apart from this, the main roads and link roads of the state have also been badly damaged by landslides and many of the roads are still closed and transportation is not running smoothly. Due to this, farmers and gardeners are facing great difficulty in delivering apples, vegetables, and other crops to the markets and many farmers and gardeners have not been able to deliver the crops to the markets due to which their crops have rotted and have suffered huge losses. Apart from this, drinking water schemes, electricity transformers, and lines have also suffered huge damage. Even today, many villages are deprived of clean drinking water due to the drinking water schemes being stalled for months.
CPIM. Met the Chief Minister and Governor of the state in this regard and also gave a memorandum. At the same time, the party, along with other democratic organizations, is continuously demanding from the state and central governments that this disaster should be declared a “national disaster” soon and additional relief and financial assistance should be provided to the state.
The state government has estimated a loss of Rs 6746.93 crore till August 10, 2023, and sent it to the Union Home Ministry. Even after that, there has been a huge loss in the state and now this figure has reached Rs 12,000 crore. So far, Rs 360.80 crore has been received from the Central Government under the State Disaster Response Fund (DRF) and Rs 189.27 crore has been received under the National Disaster Response Fund (DRF). This is out of the same Rs 200 crore that was announced during the visit of BJP National President Jagat Prakash Nadda to Himachal. This money was kept in the budget of the 15th Finance Commission. The tenure of the 15th Finance Commission will end in March 2026. In the relief manual, only Rs 2000 per bigha has been kept as a relief amount for crop loss, which is quite low.
In the Kasumpti area, the local MLA, who is the Minister of Panchayati Raj and Rural Development, is definitely visiting the Panchayats in which people are collecting donations from every family and spending on tents, flower garlands, Dham, items to honor, etc., but in return Even after ten months, there is no improvement in the condition of development works. Undoubtedly the expectations among the people are high, but the condition of the roads has not improved accordingly. Whereas in the Kasumpti area, a maximum of around three hundred illegal roads could have been legalized under the rules at this time. Neither the vacant posts in the schools have been filled, nor the construction of buildings has been completed, nor have the remote areas got the facility of buses. In urban areas and TCP. There is no concrete policy regarding the construction of unplanned structures even in the villages around Shimla which come under the ambit of RTI.
26 members from 11 panchayats participated in the convention. Representatives from various Panchayats said that the personal and community loss has not been fully assessed. Many times, people are being burdened in the form of the provision of separate vehicles in case the authorized government personnel do not arrive on the scheduled date. Even under MNREGA, there are instructions to put only two shelves in one ward which is inadequate.
Local committee members Satyawan Pundir, and Dr. attended the session. Reena Singh, Joginder Sharma, Pratap Thakur, Harichand, Krishnanand, Joginder Sharma, Keshav Dutt Kashyap, Mast Ram Kashyap, Ramakrishna Verma, Sunil, Seema Chauhan, Poonam Sharma, Vijay, Amar Thakur, Kamala Thakur, Naveen Sharma, Hoshiar Singh, Ashok Thakur etc. members took part in the discussion.
