By Our Staff Reporter
Gairsain, 23 Aug: At the demand of the Leader of the Opposition, Yashpal Arya, Speaker Ritu Khanduri Bhushan allowed a half hour discussion on the disaster situation under Rule 58 related to Suspension of Business. Raising the issue, Arya reminded the government that it has committed itself to mitigating the disasters and helping every disaster affected family and added that this commitment was not seen on the ground. In many places, the disaster has struck but the affected families still wait for help and compensation, as well for rehabilitation.
Arya claimed that the government in reality is not proving to be sensitive enough to mitigate the problems of the disaster affected families. Arya also claimed that a large number of people went missing in Kedarnath valley following the cloudburst on the night of 31 July, but the government is hiding this fact. Bhuvan Kapri demanded a relief amount of Rs 50,000 to every person whose houses or shops were flooded due to rains and they suffered losses. Mohammed Shahzad also raised the issue of flooding and damage to certain bridges and culverts in district Haridwar. Other opposition members also accused the government of not being sincere in disaster mitigation and relief, and also pointed towards disaster incidents in their respective constituencies.
In his response, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Prem Aggarwal shared that, on the night of 31 July after the heavy rains and the cloudburst, the mobile network got affected and therefore a large number of family members were unable to call the members to find out about their wellbeing. Initially, it was claimed that 500 pilgrims and local people were missing but after the restoration of mobile network, most of the people were able to communicate and consequently the number of missing persons came down to 23 only. Later, 3 dead bodies were recovered, while 20 still remain untraced but efforts are underway to locate them.
Aggarwal also mentioned that, at the request of the state, the Centre had raised the amount of ex-gratia relief and amount against damage to property which will ensure that affected families get better ex-gratia. He also said that Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami reached ground zero in Kedar Valley within a matter of hours of the disaster despite bad weather and he even reached other places of disaster to ensure immediate relief. He claimed that, due to disaster, over 426 roads were obstructed and damaged and of them over 250 roads have already been opened for traffic while work is underway to open the remaining 176 roads. He also shared that, so far, 53 persons have died in this monsoon due to disasters.
Not satisfied with the response of the minister, the Opposition members created a ruckus in the House and then staged a walkout.
