Dehradun, August 1, 2013: Uttarakhand on Wednesday sought Rs 13,800 crore from the Centre for reconstruction and relief work in the flood-ravaged State at the first meeting of the Cabinet Committee on the issue and claimed to have got an assurance from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in this regard.

The Cabinet Committee discussed the issue of compensation and rehabilitation in the State with Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna saying that his Government has decided to declare the 5,400 people, who are still missing after the flash flood tragedy, as presumed dead and give them compensation.

The missing people will, however, not been given death certificates. “About 5,400 people are still missing. Out of these 924 are from the State. These are presumed to be dead and Rs 5 lakh cheque each will be given to their family members. The Finance Minister said that the LIC should be asked to expedite their insurance claims as was done during tsunami,” Bahuguna said.

The Committee chaired by the Prime Minister has senior ministers A. K. Antony, Sharad Pawar, P. Chidambaram, Ghulam Nabi Azad, Sushilkumar Shinde, Oscar Fernandes, Kapil Sibal, Girija Vyas, Jairam Ramesh and Harish Rawat as members.

Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Bahuguna and National Disaster Management Authority Vice-Chairman M Shashidhar Reddy are the permanent invitees.

The committee has been tasked with providing broad guidance to reconstruction and rehabilitation efforts in Uttarakhand, and take such decisions, as may be required.

Singh has already announced Rs 1,000 crore for disaster relief measures in flood-devastated parts of the State.

Bahuguna said that he got a “favourable response” from the Centre for the sanction of funds of Rs 13,800 crore and that Singh assured all help will be provided to the State.

He said according to Singh and Chidambaram the Asian Development Bank and World Bank “will find ways and means” for it.

The State Government will give compensation to the “presumed dead” people by getting indemnity bonds signed by their immediate family members.

Maintaining that there will be a need to relocate residents of 300 villages, washed away in the flood, Bahuguna said his Government has demanded Rs 8,000 crore from the Centre for this. “Relocation will be done in a scientific manner with the help of Geological Survey of India. State Government will provide degraded forest land for this purpose. Government, corporates and PSUs, who want to adopt villages will be encouraged to do so. The State Government will prepare a model for this,” he said.

Besides this, there is a demand of Rs 5,500 crore for rescue, relief and rehabilitation.

Bahuguna said the Kedarnath temple is safe and a team of Archaeological Survey of India and Geological Survey of India are there to assess.

He said that the State Government has called a meeting of the temple committee on August 2 to discuss resuming worship.

Source: The Hindu, July 31