The Himachal Pradesh Committee of the Communist Party of India Marxist (CPM) has urged Chief Minister Thakur Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu to convene an all-party meeting to prepare a blueprint to be submitted to the Union government in view of the recent calamity that struck the state.

CPM Himachal Pradesh State Committee Secretary Dr. Onkar Shad, while addressing media persons here on Wednesday, underlined the need for an all-party meeting to press for the demand to declare the natural calamity in the state as a national disaster.

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Appreciating the efforts of the state government to provide relief to those who have become a victim of natural calamity, he said that his party is of the opinion that the state government needs to do much more to mitigate the problems of the people of the state, though there are serious limitations.

“It is a gigantic task to restore normalcy as the damage done to Himachal Pradesh would easily cross more than Rs 30,000 crores if all the losses public and private are compounded together. Till yesterday, according to official records, the number of deaths had reached 381, missing 38, complete damage of houses approximately 2500 and partial damage having crossed 10000. Thousands of hectares of valuable agricultural and horticultural land has been washed away or destroyed beyond the possibility of being reclaimed. Standing vegetables, agriculture and horticulture crops value going into thousands of crores of rupees has been completely destroyed,” he lamented.

Under such grave circumstances, the whole of Himachal Pradesh should with a united voice demand from the Union government to declare the natural calamity as a national disaster, he said.

“The yardstick or rules to provide funds under the NDRF be relaxed so that the actual loss is compensated, and also the relief measures under the SDRF are enhanced so that the burden for reconstructing the damage is reduced on the victims of the calamity. Failing this another alternative of providing a special package of rupees ten thousand crores be demanded from the Union government,” he asserted.

Furthermore, he demanded that the resolutions of an all-party meeting and of the Himachal Vidhan Sabha be adopted to amend the Forest Conservation Act 1980 for the Rehabilitation and Resettlement of those who have lost both agricultural and horticultural land and their house in the natural calamity.

The notification dated 17 July 2023 for framing a ‘Special Relief Package’ to provide special norms for relief and rehabilitation from rain, flood, cloudburst, landslide or any other similar form of damage be extended to the whole of Himachal Pradesh and the time frame be re-notified from 1 July to 31 August and the damage done beyond this period may also be considered if the process of damage is of continuous nature, he demanded.

He further emphasized the need for revision of crop damage relief to Rs 10,000 per bigha from the present Rs 2000.

A moratorium on loans taken from banks be announced, he demanded.