Tikendar Panwar, a former deputy mayor of the Shimla Municipal Corporation, went on a 24-hour hunger strike on Sunday at Ridge Ground in this city and urged reflection on the development strategy for Himachal Pradesh in light of the recent damage brought on by the state’s flooding.
In order to assess the flood-related damages and create a new policy framework to combat them, Panwar demanded an inquiry panel on the subject, which would be led by a retired Supreme Court judge.
He argued that criminal charges should be brought against the National Highway Authority of India and the businesses in charge of building the four-lane motorways in the state.
The state now has 78 deaths as a result of rain-related events. 24 of the 78 deaths that have occurred since August 13 have been attributed to just the three landslides in Shimla: 17 at the Summer Hill Shiva temple, 5 in Fagli, and 2 in Krishna Nagar.
According to the former deputy mayor, the current disaster has to be classified as a national calamity. In addition to creating a task team to work on mountain construction typologies, he demanded the urgent mapping of the state’s vulnerabilities and water contouring.
In light of the damage brought on by the torrential rains, the Himachal Pradesh government named the state a ‘Natural Calamity Affected Area’ on Friday. According to Chief Minister Sukhu, the state has lost 10,000 crore rupees.
J P Nadda, the national head of the BJP, also emphasised long-term planning on Sunday with a focus on alternate development processes to prevent the recurrence of such disasters.
According to the state emergency operation centre, 224 individuals have died in rain-related accidents in Himachal since the start of the monsoon on June 24, and 38 more are missing.
Besides, over 12,000 houses have been damaged completely or partially, and about 560 roads are still blocked in the state, it said.
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