Road, power supply restoration work going on war footing: Sukhu

Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu today said that the ongoing relief and restoration work was being undertaken on a war footing in the worst affected areas of the state, particularly Thunag, Janjheli and other areas of Mandi district that had been hit by cloudbursts and landslides following heavy rainfall.

Sukhu said that the state government was alive to the problems of people and was making all efforts to provide relief to the rain disaster victims. “Teams of both State Disaster Response Force and National Disaster Response Force have been stationed in the worst-affected areas of Janjheli and Thunag. Besides, the Engineer-in-Chief, PWD; Director( Operations), State Electricity Board; and Chief Engineer, Jal Shakti Department, had been stationed at Thunag to oversee the restoration measures,” he added.

Sukhu said, “Around 392 roads in the state have been blocked due to landslides and flashfloods and 196 roads of these are expected to reopen on Thursday, 79 by July 4 and the remaining 117 in the following days. The road infrastructure has suffered around Rs 182 crore loss between June 20 and July 3,” he added.

The Chief Minister said that Mandi had been the worst hit, as 189 roads were blocked and the district had suffered an estimated loss of Rs 47 crore. A large fleet of machinery had been deployed to ensure active restoration. A total of 246 kits of ration had been airdropped and provided to the disaster affected people at Thunag and Janjheli, he added.

He said that the work was being done on a war footing to ensure water, power and road connectivity in the affected areas were restored at the earliest. The HPSEBL infrastructure in Thunag and surrounding areas had been badly damaged and a loss of about Rs 20 crore had been reported, he added.

Sukhu said that the Department of Telecommunication had activated intra circle roaming services in Thunag. Besides, the services had also been mobilised to the area for emergency communication. He reaffirmed the government’s unwavering commitment to restoring normalcy at the earliest.

Himachal Tribune