300 deaths, Rs 10,000-cr damage: ‘Will take 1 yr to rebuild Himachal’

A landslip affected area where several buildings were damaged after heavy rains, at Krishan Nagar ward in Shimla, on Wednesday. Pic/PTI

Himachal Pradesh will take a year to rebuild the infrastructure wrecked by the heavy rains this monsoon but the state is up to the "mountain-like challenge", Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu said on Wednesday.

He said the estimated damage in the two devastating spells of rain - this week and in July - is about Rs 10,000 crore. So far, this monsoon, which arrived on June 24, 314 people have died in rain-related incidents. Rain this week triggered landslides across the state, with the death toll rising to 57 on Wednesday after a woman's body was pulled out of the debris of a collapsed Shiv temple in Shimla, officials said.

Sukhu said it takes time to rebuild roads and water projects. But the government is speeding up the process. "It's a mountain-like challenge. But we are not going to back away."

‘Self-reliant in 4 years'

The government will continue with its vision to make Himachal Pradesh "self-reliant" in four years and the nation's "most prosperous" state in 10 years.

"But it will take a year for us to rise from this tragedy," said Sukhu, whose Congress government came to power in 2022.

He blamed the massive damage on the intensity of the rain since Sunday - saying this was the "first time" about 50 people died in a single day - and on the lack of "structural designing".

There is design flaw

Buildings obstruct the natural course of water flow at places, and there is little attention paid to designing structures. "The river didn't enter homes, the homes entered the river," he said. He indicated there would be new rules and tougher implementation of building rules. He cited issues like proper drainage, studying the soil on which buildings are being built and a consideration of weight-bearing capacity of floors.

257
No. of rain-related deaths between June 24 and August 12

57
No. of deaths caused by rain-related incidents since August 13

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