Central Government should declare Himachal incessant rains as National Calamity: Sanjay Chauhan
The District Committee of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) expresses serious concern over the heavy loss of life and property caused by incessant rains in the state recently and demands the Central Government to take into account the dire situation arising out of this calamity. Keeping this tragedy in mind, this tragedy should be declared as “National Calamity” and the State should be given generous assistance for relief and rehabilitation. The party expresses heartfelt condolences to the families of those who have lost their lives and demands the government to immediately provide suitable relief for their rehabilitation to those whose houses have collapsed and suffered any other damage. The help of the Army, NDRF, and other specialist agencies should be taken to find those who are still missing due to this disaster.
Due to this calamity, there has been a huge loss of life and property across the state and according to the preliminary assessment of the government, there has been a loss of Rs 5000 crore so far and many people have also lost their lives. Still, due to the loss of connectivity in many areas, the damage caused by this disaster is not known. This loss will be much more than this and it may take many years to emerge from it due to a lack of resources with the government. Due to this disaster, basic needs including water, electricity, roads, transport, and other means of communication have been badly affected across the state. Today their serious problem remains in almost all parts of the state. For the last week, people are deprived of drinking water and other basic necessities.
Even today the supply of drinking water has not been smooth in the capital Shimla and its adjacent areas and in many areas water has not been available for 6 to 8 days. In the areas where water supply has also been done, most of the people have not been able to get water supply in proper quantity due to lack of proper pressure. Not everyone is getting the proper quantity of water even through tankers. In many areas, water is still not being supplied properly and due to this, especially the employees working in the middle wages and going to work regularly in the morning are facing a lot of trouble. Today, more than 32 MLD supply has started from all the drinking water supply schemes in Shimla city. If the experience of the past is seen, then if this much water is supplied on alternate days, then according to the timetable, a sufficient quantity of water can be supplied to all the residents of the city for a longer period of time. This will give relief to the general public and as soon as the supply of water from all the schemes becomes normal, a regular supply of water should be done every day according to the timetable.
Roads and bridges, the only means of transport, have been heavily damaged due to this disaster. Due to this, all the national highways and link roads in the state have been damaged, due to which the supply of essential commodities including ration, milk, bread, cooking gas, petrol, diesel and other essential items has been affected and there is a shortage. The government should repair all the roads on a war footing and run the transport services smoothly so that essential commodities can be supplied in different parts of the state. Due to damaged roads, farmers and gardeners are unable to reach their produce to the mandis, due to which many ready crops of vegetables and fruits are rotting and farmers and gardeners have to bear huge losses. The government should immediately assess this loss and provide proper compensation to them.
CPM appeals to the people of the state to fight this disaster and crisis by helping each other with mutual cooperation and goodwill. The party has called upon all the committees and units to provide all possible help to the affected people in this hour of disaster with public cooperation.
