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Himachal Govt. seeks 1,000 crore from Centre

SHIMLA: The Himachal Government has requested the Centre to release Rs. 1,000 crore from the Calamity Relief Fund for the flood-ravaged hill State. An estimated loss of Rs. 850 crore has occurred so far due to unprecedented rain, cloudbursts and flash floods in the State.

The State Disaster Management Committee met under the chairmanship of the Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh here to review the situation and chalked out a plan for relief, rescue and rehabilitation operations to be carried out by the State Government to ensure relief to the affected families.

An immediate relief of Rs. 54 crore has been released by the Government to the deputy commissioners and heads of departments to carry out the relief work on a war footing and 24-hour control rooms established at all district headquarters to monitor the situation.

The district administrations have been asked to furnish daily loss report to the headquarters. The State Government would not wait for the calamity relief instalments from the Centre; it would be spending from its own resources to ensure relief and rehabilitation.

The Chief Minister said the State had lost 88 human lives, a majority of them in the cloudburst at Ghanvi in Rampur sub-division of Shimla district where 52 people were reported missing. Only seven bodies have been recovered so far even as rescue operations are under way on a war footing by teams comprising Himachal Police, Indo-Tibetan Border Police, Central Industrial Security Force, Home Guards and other voluntary organisations.

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Himachal Govt. seeks 1,000 crore from Centre

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