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PM reviews rehabilitation work in flood-ravaged Uttarakhand
Girja Shankar Kaura/TNS

The panel This was the first meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Uttarakhand, which is chaired by the Prime Minister The committee has been tasked with providing broad guidance for reconstruction and rehabilitation efforts and take necessary decisions

New Delhi, July 31
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his select cabinet colleagues today reviewed the reconstruction and rehabilitation work being undertaken in flood-ravaged Uttarakhand.

This was the first meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Uttarakhand, which is chaired by the Prime Minister. The committee has been tasked with providing broad guidance for reconstruction and rehabilitation efforts and take necessary decisions. Defence Minister AK Antony, Finance Minister P Chidambaram, Union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde, Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar, Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Oscar Fernandes and Union Water Resources Minister Harish Rawat, all members of the committee, were present for the review.

Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna and National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) Vice-Chairman M Shashidhar Reddy are the permanent invitees to the committee.

The Uttarakhand CM gave a detailed presentation on the relief and rehabilitation efforts being undertaken in the state. He also informed the Central government about the casualty figure in the floods that took the pilgrims to “Char Dham” by surprise on the morning of June 16.

The destruction caused by floods has reportedly pushed the tourism sector in the state backwards by at least five years.

According to an ASSOCHAM study, there has been a steep fall of 85 per cent in the tourist traffic to the state after the incident.