Shimla (Himachal Pradesh) [India], July 11 : Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu on Friday returned from a tour of flood-ravaged Mandi district and announced that the state has suffered losses worth Rs 800 crore due to the ongoing monsoon devastation.
CM Sukhu urge the Centre to release a special disaster relief package immediately.
Speaking to the media after chairing a high-level meeting with the Revenue Department in Shimla, the Chief Minister urged the BJP MPs from Himachal Pradesh to seek central support for the disaster-hit state.
"We are not visiting disaster-hit regions for political mileage. I went to Mandi because I heard about food shortages in some election-bound areas. I visited homes personally and ensured that ration was delivered by helicopter on the very first day," CM Sukhu said.
The Himachal CM asserted that his government acted swiftly in response to the natural calamity.
"Soon after receiving inputs, our Cabinet held a meeting and deployed ministers to assess the damage. PWD Minister Vikramaditya Singh supervised the opening of roads and the restoration of drinking water. Nearly 200 JCB machines have been deployed," he said.
He announced that roads in flood-hit areas had been opened up on a priority basis, but added that full restoration would take time and funds.
"Today we approved Rs five lakh offline tenders for emergency repair works in affected areas so that projects are not delayed due to online procedural bottlenecks," he said.
CM Sukhu said so far, there have been Rs 800 cr damages, and he has demanded central assistance.
"We have not yet received any special relief package from the Centre for this year's disaster. I will go to Delhi and request the Prime Minister and other leaders to help us. BJP has four Lok Sabha and three Rajya Sabha MPs from Himachal. I request them to support us in securing central aid," he said.
Sukhu said that the annual disaster management grant, released to all states in two instalments, was being wrongly projected by the BJP as special assistance.
"The July instalment under the Disaster Response Fund is routine and was released as scheduled. No additional grant has been approved yet for the current crisis," he clarified.
The Himachal CM also said that his government is drafting a law to regulate construction in climate-sensitive zones, including riverbanks and areas prone to cloudbursts.
"Most houses were built decades ago when there were no extreme weather events or cloudbursts. Times have changed. We are preparing legislation to prohibit construction within 10 to 50 meters of riverbanks," CM Sukhu added.
CM Sukhu also announced landmark Revenue reforms where an online registry was rolled out in 10 districts.
In a significant announcement, the Chief Minister declared that the state government had taken a "historic decision in the revenue history of Himachal Pradesh" by rolling out paperless land registration under the 'My Deed On' project in 10 districts.
"For the first time, we constituted a committee under the Revenue Minister to reform outdated systems. The old methods need to change. This is the era of technology, and we want to bring transparency and ease to land registration," CM Sukhu added.
The new system enables citizens to avoid repeated visits to the tehsil offices. "People will now be able to do paperless registration at a single counter and eventually from home. One slot will be allocated, and that's all the time a citizen needs to spare," he explained.
He said that the Patwari Reports and Mutation will also be made available online. The CM further stated that the initiative would include the digitisation of Patwari daily reports and land mutations.
"People will no longer have to suffer from mutation procedures. We are digitising the entire revenue system. Mutation will also go online soon," he said.
A unique 'Bhu Aadhaar' number will be assigned to landowners and linked with Aadhaar for verification. "A single-digit personal land number will be generated and Aadhaar integration will help families access all revenue records," the CM said.
Out of 21,000 villages, digitised maps have been uploaded in 90 per cent of cases. The state has generated 1.44 crore unique land parcel IDs and linked 83 per cent of landowners and 71 per cent of land accounts with Aadhaar.
"We are bringing massive revenue reforms. This will directly benefit the people in the coming time," CM Sukhu added.
He said that the disaster compensation package will be presented to the cabinet. The Chief Minister said a comprehensive disaster relief package is being prepared for Cabinet approval.
"I've directed the Revenue Minister to present the draft of the relief package in the next Cabinet meeting. We will compensate for loss of livestock, homes, utensils, and agricultural land," CM Sukhu announced.
He reiterated the government's commitment to supporting affected families regardless of the type of loss.
"Even if someone has lost their livelihood, we will help. We are not here to blame anyone. We will work together to restore normalcy," he added.
"If someone is missing with very little chance of survival, we will now classify them differently to enable quicker relief disbursal to their families," Sukhu said, adding that rescue operations have been intensified.