CM visits D’sala area hit by cloudburst

Dharamsala, September 3

Chief Minister (CM) Jai Ram Thakur today visited the Indrunag temple area in Dharamsala that was hit by flash floods caused by a cloudburst yesterday. He assured the affected persons all help to tide over the crisis.

The district administration officials informed the CM that two shops, two houses and five vends were destroyed totally in the cloudburst. Fifteen houses and three shops had been partially damaged and 45 sheep were missing. A rain shelter and the gate of the Indrunag temple had been partially damaged, they added.

Deputy Commissioner Nipun Jindal said the assessment of damage to private properties was being done and people would be compensated as per the government policy. He added all roads to Indrunag hills that were blocked yesterday had been cleared and efforts were also being made to clear debris that had entered houses and shops with flood waters.

Earlier at Nurpur in Kangra district, Thakur announced that a degree college would be opened at Baranda village. He also inaugurated a drinking water supply scheme constructed on the Chakki khud at a cost of Rs 39 crore.

Thakur, while addressing a public meeting at the Baduhi ground in Nurpur, said that at the time of the formation of Himachal, there were only four districts but today there were 12 districts. In 1948, the per capita income of the state was only Rs 240, which had increased to Rs 201,873 at present, while the literacy rate had increased to 83 per cent from 4.8 per cent in 1948.

He said that there were only 228 km of roads in 1948 but today nearly 40,000 km of roads connect every nook and corner of the state. “The major credit for the expanded road network goes to former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who started the Pradhan Mantri Gramin Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) with an outlay of Rs 60,000 crore. About 50 per cent roads in the state were constructed under the PMGSY,” he added.

The Chief Minister said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had visited Himachal seven times in the past five years and was planning to come again soon. He added that it was because of Modi that the Central government approved 90:10 ratio for funding of projects in the state. The Prime Minister had also sanctioned a bulk drug pharma park for the state.

Forest Minister Rakesh Pathania said that the Chief Minister had fulfilled the biggest demand of Nurpur of a police district.