Govt assessing damage caused by heavy rains to road infra & tourism industry: Maharaj
More than 37 lakh have visited Char Dham shrines and Hemkund so far this year, says minister
Sunday, 20 AUGUST 2023 | PNS | DEHRADUN
The Tourism, Public Works, Irrigation and Panchayati Raj minister Satpal Maharaj said that the State government is in the process of assessing the damage caused by heavy rains to the road infrastructure and tourism industry in the State. Further, more than 37 lakh people have visited the Char Dham shrines and Hemkund Sahib so far this year. He said this and also listed the achievements and plans of his departments while addressing the media here on Saturday.
Referring to the damage caused by heavy rains, Maharaj said that he had visited Haridwar district in July and inspected the considerable damage caused there. So far, cheques of Rs 5,000 each have been distributed to 6,336 disaster affected persons in the district. A total of Rs 1.37 crore has been distributed in assistance to the disaster affected in the district so far. Immediate assistance of Rs 44.41 lakh in grants has been provided to 761 persons whose homes were damaged while Rs 10.89 crore was given to 17,805 farmers for crop damage. The minister said that on his request, the chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami had declared the flooded area of Haridwar as disaster affected and the people have been exempted from electricity and water bills for three months. The government has also requested the banks to provide relaxation in loan collection for three months. Referring to the Mansa Devi hill landslide, he said that geotechnical, topographical and geophysical surveys are being conducted in the area to ascertain the solution. Elaborating on the damage caused to the road network as per the Public Works Department, Maharaj said that 406 roads were blocked out of which 119 were reopened for traffic. A total of 246 mechanical excavators have been deployed to reopen blocked roads. Further, 38 bridges have been damaged by rains and floods in the State. The minister claimed that various types of roads amounting in length to 10,244 kilometres had been made patchless. The PWD had also launched a patch reporting app to enable citizens to report about apps which are then repaired by the department. A total of 1,190 feedbacks have been received through this app, out of which 292 were from Dehradun. Out of the total complaints, 713 have been resolved, 440 have been transferred to the departments concerned and work is underway to resolve 37 complaints, he said.
Speaking about tourism, Maharaj said that 37.11 lakh people had visited the Char Dham shrines and Hemkund Sahib Gurudwara so far this year. Bookings amounting to Rs 22.99 crore have been made in the Garhwal Mandal Vikas Nigam guest houses for the Char Dham Yatra this year. Regarding the Irrigation department, Maharaj said that the department is preparing to establish a separate drainage section to focus on the drainage system in the State. The minister also spoke about the achievements and activities in the Panchayati Raj department.
