IEP Chandigarh, July 19
Haryana Chief Minister Sh. Manohar Lal today announced to contribute an amount of Rs. 5 crores to Himachal CM relief fund as flood relief. He said that the state government is providing all possible help, both financially and medically for those who have been adversely affected due to heavy rainfall in the past.
While addressing a press conference held here today, Sh. Manohar Lal said, “Heavy to extremely heavy rainfall received in most of the parts of Haryana as well as in the neighbouring States for three consecutive days i.e from July 8 to 10 that has triggered flood-like situation in the State, throwing normal life out of gear and causing unfortunate loss of lives, animals and extensive damage to properties and infrastructure.
Sharing the rainfall statistics, the Chief Minister said that from July 8 to 12, the state received 110 mm of rainfall, which is 387 percent of the normal of 28.4 mm. The normal rainfall in Yamunanagar was 32.8 mm, 32.9 mm in Kurukshetra, 53 mm in Panchkula and 58.5 mm in Ambala, while this time these four districts received 842, 814, 699 and 514 percent of normal rainfall respectively.
“As a result, almost all rivers in Haryana namely Yamuna, Markanda, Tangari, Ghaggar, and Saraswati. Besides this, all drains have remained in full spate. There were breaches and overflows at many places leading to flooding of fields, roads and habitations causing loss of lives and damage to properties that necessitated immediate rescue and still ongoing relief and recovery efforts,” said Sh. Manohar Lal.
The Chief Minister further shared that 12 districts were declared flood-affected. Sharing the data regarding the same, he said that 1353 villages and 4 MC areas in 12 districts namely Ambala, Fatehabad, Faridabad, Kurukshetra, Kaithal, Karnal, Panchkula, Panipat, Palwal, Sonipat, Sirsa and Yamunanagar have been declared as flood affected in the State.
While refuting the allegations levied by the Opposition alleging that the flood situation in the state has caused due to increasing mining in the rivers, the Chief Minister said that such statements are illogical to make as flood and mining have no connection.
He said that legal mining in riverbeds as per the mining plan can rather have the potential of increasing the water intake capacity of rivers and rather help in preventing floods in low-lying areas, as excess built-up of silt is removed in the mining process.
Sh. Manohar Lal also suggested that excess slit should be removed by way of mining and otherwise from canals as well so that their water capacity in canal beds can also increase.
He said that during the Flood Control Board meeting held in January, an amount of Rs. 930 crore has been already approved for tackling flood relief works.
The Chief Minister informed that the proposal to construct a dam 500 metres behind the Hathnikund Barrage is being taken up with the Himachal government. He said that due to floods caused by excessive rains, there has been a loss of approximately Rs 500 crore as per the initial estimate in the state. Out of which about Rs 281 crore has been received from the Central Government as disaster relief amount. Apart from this, an additional amount will be demanded from the Central Government for flood relief.
The Chief Minister said that around 6629 persons have been evacuated. 41 relief camps have been organised. Around 1774 persons are currently housed in these camps. Food and other civil supplies arrangements have been made for the public residing in marooned areas. Army, Airforce, NDRF and SDRF, Civil Society organisations, and NGOs have assisted tirelessly, the district administrations in search, rescue and relief operations.