Thakur asks officials to construct houses for those affected by Himachal rains

Union Minister Anurag Thakur has asked authorities in the district to construct houses for those who have lost their homes due to heavy rains in Himachal Pradesh.

Chairing a review meeting on the damage caused by heavy rains in the district on Sunday, the Hamirpur MP said changes will be made in the Relief Manual of the Central and State Governments to provide more relief to the people hit by the calamity.

Besides this, a way should be found to make additional provisions in the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana to provide relief to these people, he added.

He directed the administration to provide accommodation facilities to the people living in relief camps and also made an appeal to people having spare accommodation to rent them to the affected people.

If needed, the minister said, he would help the people pay rent from his own funds.

Bilaspur is part of the Hamirpur parliamentary constituency.

The Information and Broadcasting minister asserted that the central government was providing all possible assistance to the state.

In the meeting, former chief minister Jai Ram Thakur asked the administration to provide all facilities to the people living in relief camps.

The MLAs also discussed the works and shortcomings issues regarding to roads, electricity, water, horticulture and agriculture department in their respective areas.

Deputy Commissioner, Bilaspur, Abid Hussain Sadiq said so far a loss of more than Rs 189 crore has been assessed in the district.

So far 12 persons have died in the district and 285 houses have been completely or partially damaged.

He said an amount of over Rs 24 crore has been approved by the state government for 3,208 damaged works under MGNREGA in the district.