About 70,000 tourists have been evacuated from the state and 15,000 vehicles sent out, while around 500 tourists have voluntarily decided to stay back, Sukhu said in a statement issued here
Shimla:
Himachal Pradesh has suffered losses of about Rs 8,000 crore as heavy rains wreaked havoc in the hill state, triggering landslides and flash floods and damaging roads and other infrastructure, Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu said on Saturday.
According to the state emergency response centre, the losses amounted to about Rs 4,000 crore till Friday night and Sukhu had sought an interim relief of Rs 2,000 crore from the Union home ministry.
About 70,000 tourists have been evacuated from the state and 15,000 vehicles sent out, while around 500 tourists have voluntarily decided to stay back, Sukhu said in a statement issued here.
Some tourists stuck at Kasol, Manikaran and other adjoining areas in Kullu district refused to move out without their vehicles and have decided to stay back for a few more days till the situation normalises and all roads are opened.
Due to a heavy landslide near Dunkhara on the Kasol-Bhuntar road, the vehicles could not be moved and the tourists had to trek to reach the other side. However the state government said these tourists are being taken care of.
Electricity, water and mobile phone services have been temporarily restored in 80 per cent of the disaster-affected areas and efforts are being made to restore essential services in the remaining areas at the earliest, the statement said.
The bus service of the Himachal Road Transport Corporation (HRTC) is suspended on 899 routes and 256 buses are held en route. The HRTC has suffered losses of Rs 5.56 crore, officials said.
Meanwhile, Himachal Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Mukesh Agnihotri said the Jal Shakti Department has suffered losses to the tune of Rs 1,411 crore due to floods and landslides caused by heavy rains in the hill state.
He said 5,203 drinking water schemes, 1,237 irrigation schemes and 55 sewerage schemes were affected while 101 flood control works were damaged.
Agnihotri, who holds the portfolio of Jal Shakti Vibhag, said while 4,623 schemes have been restored so far, it will take time to fix all of them.
“We have been able to restore them because of the passionate and steely spirits of our employees,” he said.
The state has received 284.1 mm rain so far in July, against the normal rainfall of 110.4 mm, an excess of 157 per cent.
Light to heavy rain continued to lash parts of the state, with Dharamshala receiving 131 mm rain, followed by Palampur (51 mm), Sundernagar and Nahan (45 mm each), Kangra (27 mm), Mandi and Narkanda (16 mm each).