Himachal suffered huge losses, Centre will make all efforts to rehabilitate those displaced by heavy rains: Nadda

Shimla, Aug 20 (PTI) The Centre is concerned over the grave situation in rain-battered Himachal Pradesh and all efforts would be made to rehabilitate displaced persons, BJP president J P Nadda said on Sunday.

Nadda along with Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur, former chief minister Jai Ram Thakur and state BJP president Rajiv Bindal is on a tour of the state to take stock of the situation.

“I am pained to see the devastation and loss of human lives and assure all help for rehabilitation of displaced persons,” the BJP president, who started his visit of flood and rain-hit areas of the state from Paonta Sahib in Sirmaur, said after meeting a famiiy which lost five members in flash floods on August 10.

“Himachal has suffered huge losses and the union government is seriously concerned about the situation. Efforts are afoot by the administration to provide relief and take up restoration and rehabilitation works. Central help would continue to pour in and all the displaced persons would be rehabilitated”, he told reporters.

Later, Nadda visited the Shiv temple area in Summer Hill which was damaged following a massive landslide on August 14 and also Krishnanagar.

The death toll in rain-related incidents in Himachal Pradesh has climbd to 78.

Of the 78 deaths since Sunday night, 24 were in the three major landslides in Shimla alone — 17 at the Shiv temple in Summer Hill, five in Fagli, and two in Krishnanagar, Superintendent, Shimla, Sanjeev Kumar Gandhi told PTI on Saturday.

Since the onset of the monsoon in Himachal Pradesh on June 24, 338 people have died in rain-related incidents and road accidents in the state while 38 people are missing, according to the state emergency operation centre.

Of the 338 deaths, 221 people have died in rain-related incidents in Himachal Pradesh, it said.

On Friday, the Himachal Pradesh government declared the state a “Natural Calamity Affected Area” in view of the damage caused by heavy rains leading to the loss of human life and extensive damage to property.

The state government has urged the Centre to declare the tragedy a national disaster.