Himachal Pradesh has been battered by incessant rains, leading to landslides causing the death of several people since early last month. As such, the state government has announced a special relief package for those who suffered losses between July 7 and 15 because of rain-related incidents. According to the notification from the Himachal Pradesh government, the amount of relief to cover damages in the aforesaid period has been increased from Rs 6,500 to Rs 1 lakh. Solan Deputy Commissioner Manmohan Sharma said, “Recently, seven people lost their lives after a cloudburst in Jadon village in Solan. When CM Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu visited the family, the locals brought to his notice that the relief amount of Rs 6,500 was not enough to cover the damages. It is then that the CM assured them of an increase in the package.” He added, “While there are some changes in the relief amounts for other items also, the major one is the special relief for the damage to pucca and katcha houses across the state.” The notification reads, “Special norms have been issued for providing relief and rehabilitation to the people affected by the flash floods, cloud burst and landslides in various districts of Himachal Pradesh between July 7 to 15 July. The payments of the assistance have to be made from State Disaster relief Force (SDRF) as per the rates issued by MHA. Additional amount will be paid from the additional funds to be provided by the Himachal government.” The notification further informed that under the Himachal special relief package, rates of assistance for damage to shops and dhabas is also Rs 1 lakh. In case of damage to the belongings of the tenants, they will get Rs 50,000. In case of de-silting of agricultural and horticulture land, the special relief amount will be Rs 5,000 per bigha as against Rs 1,440 per bigha under the Centre's relief amount. Also, in case of loss of large milch animals, Rs 55,000 per animal would be given instead of the standard Rs 37,500. “It is to be noted that the compensation to family members of a deceased is Rs 4 lakh,” Sharma said. Manohar Lal, a local whose house has been completely damaged, said that the relief package will help them back on their feet. “Initially, we were supposed to get a meagre Rs 6,500 which is nothing when compared to prices of things nowadays owing to high inflation.”
