Learning lessons from the recent disaster owing to rain fury, Himachal Pradesh government is contemplating to enact strict laws for regulating construction activities in the state.

Chief Minister Thakur Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu said that the state government aims to enforce stringent laws to ensure the safety of its citizens from natural calamities.

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The government will make laws regarding permission for structural engineering, limit of land to withstand the weight and effective drainage system, he said and appealed to people to support the government in its initiative.

“In order to minimize the loss of human lives and property due to the disaster, there was a need to amend the law and human approach towards the preservation of ecology as well. The only way to prevent disasters and large-scale destruction is to respect nature and promote a lifestyle that strikes an effective balance between development and nature,” he said.

The Chief Minister stated this while inaugurating a two-day workshop on Challenges of the Geological Hazards, particularly the earthquakes and landslides over the western Himalayan region of Himachal Pradesh here on Thursday.

He said that Himachal had to suffer colossal losses during the monsoon season accompanied by floods, cloudbursts, landslides and excessive release of water at critical hours from the reservoirs. Though the state has witnessed rains since April this year, the torrential downpours during the months of July and August caused heavy loss to precious lives and both public and private property across the state, he added.

Human greed and exploitation of our environs were among various other reasons behind the devastation, he asserted.

The people constructed their houses along the streams and the river banks and did not pay any heed to the structural engineering, he said, adding that there was a need to study the reasons behind cloud bursts which occurred in numbers this year.

The state was within the seismic zone and quite prone to the earthquakes as well and we should also prepare ourselves accordingly, he said, adding that the Centre government has accorded permission for setting up two Doppler Radars in Lahaul and Spiti and Kinnaur which would help in early warning detection of weather.