Led by Nadda, Himachal MPs and MLAs seek assistance from Amit Shah, Gadkari

A delegation of BJP MPs and MLAs from Himachal Pradesh and former Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur led by party’s national president JP Nadda today met Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari to seek Central assistance for the restoration of infrastructure damaged during the current monsoon season.

Besides Jai Ram Thakur, state BJP president Rajeev Bindal, MPs Anurag Thakur, Suresh Kashyap, Rajeev Bhardwaj, Kangana Ranaut, Indu Goswami, Sikander Kumar and Harsh Mahajan accompanied Nadda. BJP legislators Vinod Kumar, Hans Raj and Deep Raj were also part of the delegation.

Nadda, who had visited the rain-ravaged parts of Mandi and Kullu districts on July 7, apprised Shah about the havoc wreaked by heavy rain on the night of June 30. He requested Shah for assistance for the reconstruction of the damaged infrastructure and the latter assured the delegation of all possible help as provided in the past.

The delegation also called on Gadkari and sought liberal financial assistance for the reconstruction of damaged roads and bridges. Gadkari assured the Himachal leaders that the road infrastructure would be restored on a war footing.

Nadda said that the Narendra Modi-led Central Government did not discriminate against any state and extended full support to every state that faced natural disasters. “Union Home Minister Amit Shah sent a high-level inter-ministerial team to assess losses within 20 days of the flashfloods in Mandi. This shows the concern of the Central Government towards the natural tragedy in Himachal,” he added.

He said that the Central Government had allocated Rs 2,006.40 crore for the restoration of damaged infrastructure in Himachal Pradesh and the first installment of Rs 451.44 crore was released on July 7.

The meetings of the delegation with Union Ministers come in the wake of Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, ministers and Congress leaders urging BJP leaders to plead the case of Himachal with the Central Government. As many as 12 cloudbursts in Seraj, Nachan and Karsog areas of Mandi district had caused massive damage to roads, bridges, water supply schemes and electricity transformers. More than 1,000 houses were completely damaged, especially in the Seraj Assembly segment represented by Thakur.