Dehradun: The inter-ministerial team of the Government of India, which came to take stock of the damage caused by the disaster in the state, met Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami. The Chief Minister said that Uttarakhand is a very sensitive state in terms of disaster. During the monsoon period, the state has to deal with serious problems of landslides, floods and waterlogging due to excessive rainfall. He said that to reduce the damage caused by landslides, national level institutions will have to work together to further develop the forecasting system. The Chief Minister said that due to excessive rainfall this year, there has been a lot of damage in various areas of the state. Along with loss of life, assets have also suffered a lot. He said that incidents of cloudburst and landslides in the mountainous areas of the state cause permanent damage to the land, it is not possible to use such places again for farming or construction work. For this, he also stressed on an effective action plan.
Members of the inter-ministerial team of the Government of India met the Chief Minister at the Secretariat on Wednesday after visiting various areas of Uttarkashi, Rudraprayag, Pauri Garhwal, Chamoli, Bageshwar and Nainital districts and taking stock of the damage caused by the disaster. This team, which came under the leadership of Joint Secretary of Home Ministry, Government of India, R. Prasanna, included Under Secretary Sher Bahadur, Superintendent Engineer Sudhir Kumar, Deputy Director Vikas Sachan, Chief Engineer Pankaj Singh, Director Dr. Virendra Singh. The inter-ministerial team, while talking to the disaster affected people and mentioning the feedback received, described the relief work being carried out by the state government in the affected areas as commendable. The central team also described the proper arrangement of accommodation and food in the relief camps for the disaster affected people, providing medical facilities on the spot and other basic facilities as better.
The central team said that the immediate relief amount of Rs. 5 lakh given by the state government to the families of those who died in the disaster and those whose houses were completely damaged, has also provided a lot of relief to the affected people. The central team also appreciated the initiative of having complete data of all pregnant women in the state available with the district administration and keeping constant contact for their health and safe delivery. The team members said that they will present their suggestions to adopt such important initiatives in other states as well. The central team said that the possibility of future damage due to rising water levels due to excessive silt filling in the rivers due to landslides and floods in the affected areas has also been brought to their notice during the visit.
On this occasion, Chief Secretary Anand Bardhan, Additional Chief Secretary R.K. Sudhanshu, Secretary Disaster Management Vinod Kumar Suman, Additional Chief Executive Officer of State Disaster Management Authority Anand Swaroop were present.
