“Rs 110 crore released to restore link roads in apple belts of State”: Himachal CM

Shimla (Himachal Pradesh) [India], August 8 : Himachal Pradesh government has released Rs 110 crore to restore the link roads in apple belts of the State which were affected due to the floods, an official statement said on Tuesday. 
Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, who is on a two days visit of Shimla district said that his government was consistently working on restoration of the road connectivity in the apple belts.
He is visiting the district to have on the spot assessment of losses caused by torrential rains visited the Chopal assembly constituency today.
“The State Government would provide all possible assistance to the affected families,” the CM said and directed the district administration and the local officers to provide immediate assistance to the families affected and directed the public works department to float short term tenders immediately for restoration of roads so that the farmers may not face any hindrance to transport their produce to the markets.
He said that it was being considered to increase the rate of scald apples, to further benefit the apple growers.
The Chief Minister said that Rs 70 crore would be spent for the strengthening of Chhaila-Yashwant Nagar road which is lifeline of the people of the area and an alternative route towards Solan and Chandigarh.
The Chief Minister asked the officers at Chopal to expedite the repair and restoration works of roads and directed to provide compensation of rupees one lakh each to the affected families immediately.
According to a press release from the chief minister’s office, the CM further directed to release Rs 2 Crore for the restoring road connectivity for Chopal Division and Rs 50 lakh for the Sainj Sub Division of Theog, while Rs 1.50 crore has been allocated already.
Sukhu said that the State Government was consistently working to restore the road connectivity in the apple belts and has released Rs 110 crore to restore the link roads in the apple growing regions of the State.
He said link roads have been washed out at many places due to natural calamity and it would take significant time to restore them and urged the people to cooperate in this hour of need.
He also appealed to the people to join hands with the government help in constructing temporary roads to facilitate the commuting of vehicles ferrying the apple produce and the State Government will suitably compensate them.
The official statement further said that the Chief Minster has directed to shift the Kudi village in Chopal Assembly segment and identify the suitable land for its rehabilitation, which has been sinking due to heavy rains the area witnessed recently.
In the recent devastation, Himachal Pradesh has suffered losses to a tune of approximately Rs 8000 crore.
Chief Minister said that the calamity has caused enormous damage in all the regions of the State and it was the biggest catastrophe witnessed in last 50 years.
The Chief Minister informed that 300 houses were partially or completely damaged in Chopal area.
The Deputy Commissioner was instructed to provide rupees three lakh each for restoring the connectivity of link roads of 15 panchayats of Balsan area.
The Chief Minister said that the central team has recently visited the State to assess the damages and the State Government was hopeful that the first installment of interim relief would be released by the Union Government shortly.
“He said that a sum of Rs 315 crore was pending under NDRF for the last few years due to some audit objections and the matter was taken up with the Union Home Minister, Amit Shah in recent visit to Delhi,” the press release said quoting Sukhu.