Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Thakur Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu (third from right) in flood hit Thunag Sub-division of Mandi district on July 13, 2023.
New Delhi/Shimla: As an interim relief, Himachal Pradesh will get an advanced release of the second instalment of Central share of the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) amounting to Rs. 180.40 crores, for the year 2023-24. Union Home Minister Amit Shah, approved the advance release today in order to support the affected people of Himachal.
The Central Government also constituted Inter-Ministerial Central Teams (IMCTs), to make on-the-spot assessments of the situation and relief works being carried out by the Himachal Pradesh government. The IMCT would commence their field visits on July 17, 2023.
The Himachal Pradesh government claimed that till July 13, 2023, it had successfully evacuated 60,000 of the 70,000 tourists and local residents from the worst affected flood-hit areas of Kullu-Manali, and Lahaul Spiti districts after 60 hours of rescue operations. Besides 118 persons were airlifted from Sangla. The remaining 10,000 individuals who were putting up at Kasol and Tirthan Valley and were reluctant to leave their vehicles were also reportedly evacuated safely. To alleviate their concerns, the State Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu had assured them that their vehicles would be safeguarded.
Earlier, the Central Government had already released the first instalment of the Central share of Rs. 180.40 crore to Himachal Pradesh from SDRF on July 10, 2023, for relief measures of immediate nature. The release of funds will help the state government to undertake relief measures for the affected people during the current monsoon season.
The Union Home Ministry today said that the Centre has provided all necessary logistics and financial assistance to the Himachal Pradesh government to efficiently deal with the situation caused due to recent flash floods and floods, cloudbursts and landslides in the state. The Union Government had already deployed 11 Teams of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) along with rescue boats and other necessary equipment for rescue operations. 01 Column of 1 Para Special Force and 205 Army Aviation Squadron were deployed at Paonta Sahib for civil evacuation. Two MI-17V5 helicopters were also deployed for evacuation missions.
The Central Government has already released Rs. 10,031.20 crore as a Central share of SDRF to 27 States during the year 2023-24, the Union Home Ministry said.
– global bihari bureau
