Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Thakur Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu met Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Bhupender Yadav, in New Delhi on Friday evening.
He apprised the Union Minister of the losses suffered by the state due to recent cloudbursts and heavy rains and added that heavy losses had been caused to buildings, infrastructure, roads, bridges, water supply schemes, and residential properties, besides the tragic loss of human lives during the current monsoons.
Sukhu urged the Union Minister to allow the allocation of one bigha of land for the rehabilitation of disaster-hit families, who have rendered homeless and landless.
Highlighting that 68 per cent of the state falls under forest cover, he emphasised the need to relax forest norms to facilitate resettlement.
He also held discussions on river dredging and requested that necessary directions be issued regarding the disposal of dredged material as a preventive measure against future disasters. He also urged that separate norms should be fixed for hill states, keeping in view their tough topography and special needs.
Sukhu apprised the Union Minister about the frequent recurrence of cloudbursts that have led to recurring natural disasters and severe losses. He informed that the matter had also been raised with the Union Home Minister, and a central team had visited the state to study the impact of climate change.
Deputy Chief Whip Kewal Singh Pathania, MLAs Sanjay Awasthy and Suresh Kumar, Additional Chief Secretary (Forest) K.K. Pant, Principal Resident Commissioner Ajay Yadav, and senior officers from the state government and the ministry were present at the meeting.
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