Rain-ravaged Uttarakhand seeks Rs 13,000-crore aid from Centre

In the memorandum sent to Centre, state is seeking Rs 8,000 cr for rehabilitation of 300 villages

A central team on Friday flew to different areas of Uttarakhand to assess losses caused by the June 16-June 17 rain catastrophe, even as the state sought Rs 13,000 crore to cover those.

In its memorandum to the Centre, the state sought Rs 8,000 crore for the rehabilitation of 300 villages declared unsafe, Chief Secretary Subhash Kumar said. Besides, the government is seeking Rs 1,500 crore for rebuilding roads and bridges. In addition, the state had said it suffered a loss of Rs 3,500 due to damage caused to governmental properties. The tourism department’s loss is Rs 58 crore.           

The central team headed by Joint Home Secretary Lokesh Jha flew to the worst-affected areas of Uttarakashi, Chamoli, Rudraprayag, Bageshwar and Pithoragarh to assess the losses after it arrived in Dehradun. Jha will keep himself stationed at Pauri area in Garhwal from where he will monitor the situation, official sources said.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had announced a relief package of Rs 1,000 crore after making an aerial survey of the state last month, with Congress President Sonia Gandhi. The Centre has also sanctioned Rs 300 crore to the Border Roads Organisation (BRO).

Though officials are not speaking much on financial losses, sources said the state may get a total package of over Rs 8,000 crore from agencies.  

The state is expecting a loan of Rs 3,000 crore from World Bank and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) after discussions with their officials. This loan will be in the form of a 90 per cent grant by the Centre.

The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham) has suggested the Centre to give aid of Rs 10,000 crore for the rehabilitation and reconstruction. A paper by Assocham spoke of the cost of damages to housing, crops, livestock, tourism, destruction of transport and communications and breakdown of public and rural extension services. Secretary General D S Rawat said the report had been prepared on the basis of feedback by the two-member Assocham team that visited affected areas in three districts, Chamoli, Rudraprayag and Uttarkashi.