Minister of State for Home Affairs Ajay Kumar Mishra has said on Saturday that the Government of India was closely monitoring the situation in Sikkim arising from the Glacial Lake Outburst Flood (GLOF) that claimed several lives and many are still missing.
Mishra said this while chairing a meeting with the Chief Secretary and concerned head of departments of the Sikkim Government, and senior officers of the Army, ITBP, BRO, NHIDCL and NHPC at Gangtok, on Saturday, as per a communique issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).
He said all necessary support and assistance for the state is underway.
The Minister informed that the Centre has constituted an Inter-Ministerial Central Team comprising of senior officers of five Ministries of the Government of India, namely Agriculture, Road Transport and Highways, Jal Shakti, Energy and Finance.
The team will visit the State from Sunday to take stock of the ground situation, assess the damages and provide assistance wherever necessary, Mishra said.
He also informed that the Central government has granted an advance sanction of the allocated State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) for 2023-24 to enable the State to carry out immediate rescue, relief and restoration.
He urged the State government officials to prepare a short term and long-term plan to effectively accomplish the task of re-building the damaged/lost infrastructure in the shortest possible time.
Earlier, state’s Chief Secretary, briefed Mishra about the casualties and the status of the relief camps, besides extensive damages to roads and other vital infrastructures.
He also called on Sikkim Governor Lakshman Prasad Acharya at Raj Bhavan.
Later, Mishra visited the Army camp at Bardang where maximum casualties have happened.