PIONEEREDGE NEWS SERVICE | Dehradun
Pradesh Congress Committee president Karan Mahara has demanded that the Central government should declare the recent natural disaster in Uttarakhand as a national disaster.
In a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the PCC president said that Uttarakhand is suffering from the impact of a major natural disaster triggered by incessant heavy rains in all parts of the State.
He said that the disaster has caused considerable loss to life and property in all the mountainous districts of the State.
Mahara said that the disaster has struck Dharali in Uttarkashi, Tharali in Chamoli , Kapkot in Bageshwar, Dharchula in Pithoragarh, Thalisain in Pauri and has disrupted the life of the people.
He said that in all the 10 mountainous districts, many rural areas are cut off from the main roads due to which there is difficulty in providing help to the affected people. The market, houses, hotels and other commercial establishments of Dharali village of Uttarkashi have been completely damaged and there is a possibility that hundreds of people are still buried under the debris.
Accusing the Disaster Management department of the State of negligence, the PCC president claimed that the warnings of the Indian Institute of Remote Sensing (IIRS) were ignored.
He added that number of missing and seriously injured people in the disasters caused by heavy rains and cloudbursts in various districts has not been accurately assessed yet.
Mahara said that due to the continuous heavy rains and excessive rainfall in the State, an atmosphere of panic has got ceated among the people and at many places people are forced to spend the night under the open sky.
He said apart from declaring, the disaster as national disaster, the central government should immediately provide a disaster package of Rs 10,000 crore to Uttarakhand.
The PCC president said that every disaster affected family should be given immediate relief of Rs 10 lakh each by the central and State governments. He added that adequate compensation should be paid to the people whose houses and establishments have been damaged.
Mahara averred that a high powered committee should be constituted to address the displacement of people of the disaster affected areas.
