Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Thakur Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu has expressed gratitude to the Indian National Congress, General Secretary, Priyanka Gandhi for writing a letter to the Prime Minister for declaring the calamity in Himachal Pradesh a ‘National Disaster’.
Priyanka Gandhi has strongly advocated the interests of Himachal Pradesh with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the wake of the huge loss of life and property during the unprecedented rains, triggering flash floods, cloudbursts and landslides in Himachal, he said here on Saturday.
On her recent visit to the state, Priyanka Gandhi visited the flood-hit areas of Mandi, Kullu and Shimla and interacted with the people sharing their grief.
The Chief Minister said that during the worst-ever catastrophe, there was a huge loss of human lives besides major losses were suffered due to the inundation of huge patches of agricultural land in the state.
Around 13000 houses were damaged, the National Highways were disrupted due to heavy landslides, and massive damage was caused to water and electricity supply schemes throwing life out of the gear in the state causing extensive loss of around Rs. 12,000 crore.
The Chief Minister reiterated that the Union Government, taking cognizance of the losses suffered by the state should soon declare the calamity as a ‘National Disaster’ so that the people of the state affected by the floods could be helped and adequately compensated, refurbishing of the National Highways and water and power supply schemes.