Shimla, Jul 24 (PTI) Union Home Minister Amit Shah sent Central teams to assess damage in Himachal Pradesh within 20 days after it was hit by a succession of cloudbursts and landslides, Union minister and BJP national president Jagat Prakash Nadda said on Thursday.
In a statement, he added that Shah had also immediately rushed Air force helicopters and National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) teams for rescue and relief operations in the state, where torrential rains wreaked havoc recently.
Nadda, who along with a delegation of BJP MPs and MLAs met Shah and Union Minister of Highways and Transport Nitin Gadkari on Thursday to seek liberal assistance for the rain-ravaged state, said that the Union government stands strongly behind Himachal Pradesh to provide relief without discrimination.
The Centre has released Rs 2,006 crore for restoration and rehabilitation works in the state. Moreover, the first instalment of State Disaster Response Fund amounting to Rs 198.80 crore was released on June 18, 2025, and another instalment of Rs 451.44 crore was released on July 7, the statement said.
Further, the Centre had deployed 13 teams of NDRF, Air Force, Army and other agencies for restoration and relief operations in Himachal Pradesh and “our request to set up a multi-sectoral team to study the causes of increasing frequency of natural calamities in the state has also been accepted, Nadda said.
In a separate statement, Hamirpur MP Anurag Thakur said, “The home minister said that Himachal Pradesh is very dear to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and that the Union government has increased the State Disaster Relief Fund for the state several times in view of the terrible situation of increasing calamities there.” According to the State Emergency Operations Centre, from the onset of monsoon in Himachal Pradesh on June 20 to July 23, as many as 77 people have died and 34 have gone missing in rain-related incidents. The state has experienced 42 flash floods, 24 cloudbursts and 26 landslides this season, resulting in losses to the tune of Rs 1,382 crore.
The worst hit was Mandi district, where 15 people died and 34 went missing when cloudbursts wreaked havoc on June 30 night.
The Central team tasked with examining the root cause of increasing natural calamities in Himachal Pradesh is led by National Disaster Management Authority Advisor Col K P Singh, and also consists of Dr S K Negi, Chief Scientist, CSIR-CBRI (Roorkee); Prof Arun Kumar, Geologist and Prof (Retd), University of Manipur; Dr Susmita Joseph, Research Scientist, IITM Pune, and Dr Neelima Satyam, Professor, Civil Engineering, IIT Indore. PTI BPL RUK RUK
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