M’laya to seek Rs 1552 Crore relief SHILLONG, October, 11: Meghalaya is seeking Rs 155238.07 lakh from New Delhi to help the State recoup from the massive onslaught of the recent floods especially in vast areas of Garo Hills where many precious lives have been lost and extensive damage to properties and crucial infrastructure incurred. A senior government official told Eastern Chronicle on Friday that the memorandum to be submitted to Union home minister Rajnath Singh by chief minister Dr. Mukul Sangma shortly has been finalized and once Singh is in Delhi after finishing his electoral campaigning across the country, Dr. Sangma will be submitting the same following which the full contents will be available on the public domain. The memorandum for financial assistance for repair/restoration of properties and infrastructure damaged by flood/landslide in the State on September 21 and 22 has pegged the loss at Rs 155238.07 lakh, and as the State is not in a position to meet the financial requirements for rebuilding the lives of affected people and their infrastructure, hence a memorandum for financial assistance from the Government of India has been “earnestly solicited”. According to the memo, Meghalaya had a record high rainfall of over 50 cms of rainfall in 24 hours (as per IMD Guwahati website) on the mentioned days and as such “it experienced flash floods and landslide even in areas which had not suffered floods earlier”. According to the official, “the Guidelines of Government of India relating to Items and Norms of assistance from SDRF & NDRF have been utilized for preparing the Memorandum”. The official said, “Meghalaya has sought financial assistance of Rs. 42230.47 lakh from the National Disaster Relief Fund. In addition, the State requests Rs. 62204.00 lakh for permanent restoration of critical infrastructure particularly Roads & Bridges.” The balance of Rs 50803.60 will be needed for final completion of all restoration and rebuilding works explained the official. Sources inform that Dr. Sangma is likely to meet the Union home minister next week to submit the state’s request for much needed financial assistance to help the state rebuild much needed infrastructure that has been destroyed in the recent carnage. Blurb 1: FINANCIAL RESOURCES INSUFFICIENT “The State Governments financial resources are not sufficient to meet this huge requirement for rebuilding the lives of affected population and the infrastructure,” said the official adding, “It is not possible to utilize our Annual Plan allocations for these restoration works as we shall be doing so at an enormous cost of other pro-poor developmental programmes.” Blurb 2: INFRASTRUCTURE REBUILDING CRITICAL “Rebuilding of infrastructure is of critical importance for creating ambient conditions for improving the quality of life of our people as well as accelerating the pace of socio-economic growth. Hence, we are requesting Government of India to kindly extend its support,” said the official.
Posted on: Sat, 11 Oct 2014 01:20:06 +0000
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