Centre forms special team to study Himachal disasters

As Himachal Pradesh grapples with devastation caused by frequent flashfloods amid heavy rainfall, Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday ordered the formation of a multi-sectoral central team to look into the reasons behind the alarming frequency with which natural disasters have been occurring in the state over the past few years.

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The central team, which will include experts from the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), Central Building Research Institute (CBRI), Roorkee, Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM), Pune, and Indian Institute of Technology Indore (IIT), Indore.

An inter-ministerial central team has also been deputed to the state to assess the damage caused by incidences of flashflood, cloudburst and landslide during the ongoing southwest monsoon.

The team, which arrived in the state on July 18 for an on-the-spot assessment of the damages in the affected areas, will conduct its study till July 21, official sources said.

Chief Minister Sukhvinder Sukhu had last week met Shah and sought a relief package for the state.

A high-level committee chaired by the Union Home Minister has already approved an outlay of Rs 2,006.40 crore for recovery and reconstruction efforts in areas affected by the 2023 disaster. The first instalment of Rs 451.44 crore was released on July 7.

In order to support the affected people, the Centre had on June 18 released the first instalment of the central share of Rs 198.80 crore to Himachal from the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) for relief measures of immediate nature.

Besides, logistical assistance, including deployment of requisite teams of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), the Army and Air Force, has been provided to all states.

A total of 13 NDRF teams are deployed in Himachal for rescue and relief operations, the sources added.