Monsoon has caused Rs 1,250 crore loss to HP: CM

Shimla, Sep 6 (UNI) Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh today said monsoon rains this year had caused an estimated loss of Rs 1,250 crore, besides 96 human lives, 3,524 cattle heads and damage to over 11,000 houses in the state.

Presiding over the high level meeting of revenue officers and deputy commissioners to take stock of the losses due to heavy rains in some parts of the state this monsoon, he said besides this, vast stretch of agricultural land was also washed away during the monsoon season.

Mr Singh said he would soon apprise Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of the losses suffered by the state and seek liberal financial assistance to provide assistance to the farmers and carry out restoration works.

The Himachal Government had set up round the clock control rooms at the district headquarters to monitor the situation and forward this to the state headquarter, he said.

He said the Relief Manual had also been revised to provide relief to the farmers and affected people by the concerned district administration.

A central team would visit the state soon to assess the losses due to heavy rains, he said.

The Chief Minister said eligible families applying for two biswa land in the rural and one biswa of land in the urban areas would be allotted land by the end of October.

The government would also cover all such eligible allottees under the Indira Awas Yojna, Rajiv Gandhi Awas Yojna or some other scheme to make funds available for the construction of their houses, he said.

He said efforts would also be made to compensate the families whose houses were washed away in the recent floods under the same programme besides providing them financial assistance over and above the provisions of the Relief Manual.

State Revenue Minister Sat Mahajan besides several others was also present in the meeting.

UNI