Garhwal Post Bureau
Dehradun, 16 Sep: A Congress delegation met Chief Secretary Anand Bardhan, today, and submitted a memorandum demanding financial assistance of Rs 10 lakh each for the families of the deceased and Rs 5 lakh each for the affected families in Dehradun district, which has suffered extensive damage due to the recent natural disaster. The delegation also urged the government to ensure the relocation of vulnerable families to safer areas for their protection.
The delegation reminded the Chief Secretary that the midnight cloudburst and heavy rains of 15 September caused massive devastation in areas including Maldevta, Sahastradhara, Raipur, and Nanda Ki Chowki. Several lives have been lost, many people remain missing, and a large number have been seriously injured. The scale of destruction is severe, with more than a dozen confirmed deaths so far, while the actual toll may rise once full assessments are completed.
They further highlighted that continuous heavy rainfall has cut off connectivity between Dehradun headquarters and affected areas such as Pachhuwa Doon, Mussoorie, Raipur, and Rishikesh, severely hampering relief operations. Reports of widespread damage have also emerged from several other parts of the state due to incessant rains. Despite prior weather warnings, the State Disaster Management Department allegedly failed to put in place adequate safety arrangements in disaster-prone areas.
The delegation criticized the relief announcement of Rs 1,200 crore by Prime Minister Narendra Modi as “grossly inadequate” compared to the scale of losses suffered, describing it as “a drop in the ocean”. They demanded that the Central Government release Rs 20,000 crore for effective disaster relief and rehabilitation in Uttarakhand.
The delegation included MLA, Dwarahat, Madan Singh Bisht, former MLA, Rajpur Road, Rajkumar, former Metropolitan Congress President Lalchand Sharma, former Mussoorie Assembly Constituency candidate Godavari Thapli, Ajay Singh, and others.
