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Pics: Monsoon fury in Himachal kills 19 in 36 hours, hit 923 roads including 6 NHs
Shimla: During the past three days, Himachal Pradesh witnessed the wrath of heavy rain as about 18 people were killed with the highest eight casualties in Solan district. Shimla, as per the Meteorological Department, has received 172 mm rainfall in 24 hours – which is the second highest for the month of August after 1901.p;
In Solan, a landslide buried a family of four with their home. The water levels in rivers and rivulets of the State were recorded very high. The dams are also releasing water into the rivers after the heavy downpour.
Shimla witnessed felling of over 70 trees and several landslides that buried about three dozen vehicles and caused damage to several others.
A major landslide was also reported on Mehli-Shoghi bypass near Beolia in Shimla that buried several cars.
Several houses/jhuggi’s were also taken down by heavy rain in Krishna Nagar of Shimla in which over 30 people were said to have rendered homeless. It was alleged that these people did not get any considerable relief from the district administration.
Near Phagali on Shimla-Dhali Bypass
The traffic was choked on Shimla-Chandigarh and Manali-Chandigarh NH too due to which tourists, as well as locals, remain stuck in traffic for several hours.
The rains also hit the railway services on the Kalka-Shimla track due to which all trains were cancelled. There were reports of fresh landslides in Shimla-Chandigarh NH on Tuesday. The traffic flow also remained disrupted on Tuesday as well.
In some parts, felling of trees caused damage to power supply lines resulting in a blackout.
Houses collapsed as land caves in
About 923 roads were closed due to landslides in the state including six national highways and about 1,000 others were also affected temporarily.
The government said that work of restoration and clearance of roads is underway and assured relief by Tuesday evening.
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As per the information received at the state headquarters, 19 casualties have been reported so far from various districts including one each in Bilaspur and Una districts, two in Hamirpur, four in Mandi and eight in Solan district.
The rain has also caused losses to farmers as well as apple growers. The blockage of roads caused huge inconvenience to trucks carrying apple crops.
Educational institutes remained closed for August 13 and 14 keeping in view the prediction of bad weather.
Tourists and locals were advised not to go along river-banks and district administrations were told to keep a close vigil on tracking activities.
As per the Deputy Commissioner, Kullu, the Manali national highway was blocked due to constant landslides.
In Kangra district, traffic was affected on 85 roads and most of these were cleared by Monday evening. Pathankot-Mandi road was cleared for light vehicles and the people stranded in Lambagaon were rescued by the administration.
In Hamirpur district, two casualties were reported in Bhoranj area due to landslips. The DC informed that 50 roads have been reopened for traffic and remaining 13 roads would be restored by tomorrow.
Deputy Commissioner Solan informed that eight casualties have been reported in Solan district. In all, 102 roads have been damaged in the district out of which traffic has been restored on 62 roads. The Kumarhatti-Nahan road has also been reopened for light vehicles.
In Bilaspur district, Swarghat national highway and Bilaspur-Shimla road have also been made through for traffic while the work on restoring the interior roads was in progress.
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In Kinnaur district, Maling Nallah and Skibba roads have been restored and the road to Sangla valley would also be made through by today evening where few tourists are stranded.
In Lahaul-Spiti district, Sumdo-Kaza-Gramphu road is blocked due to landslide and Meling-Kaza road has been restored.
One casualty has been reported in Mandi district and the vehicular traffic has been suspended as water approached the main road near Hanogi on national highway-21.
The Government of Himachal Pradesh has released Rs. 96.50 crore for relief and rescue operation in the state following losses to human life and the property due to heavy rainfall during last 24 hours.
The government has so far released Rs. 229 crores since April 1, 2018, and more funds would be released as per the requirement of the districts.
No Heavy Rains During Next 5 Days: Met
However, the Meteorological Department has predicted that there was no possibility of heavy rainfall in the state in the next five days.
A few places over middle and low hills and at isolated places over higher reaches in the next three days could witness light-to-moderate rainfall is likely to occur at, said Manmohan Singh, director, Meteorological Centre, Shimla.
Shimla-Himachal Pradesh Government employees working in different departments before January 3, 2022, would be given a higher scale at par with other employees on completion of two years tenure of regular service. A higher pay scale was also announced for the Junior Office Assistants (IT) on completion of two years of regular service.
Chief Minister Jairam Thakur made these announcements during the Karamchari Maha Sammelan of the Himachal Pradesh Non-Gazetted Employees Federation at the hotel Peterhof on Sunday.
He appreciated the role played by the employee especially frontline workers in the battle against the pandemic.
He said most of the government employees in the state have been given revised pay scales and on average, every employee has got the benefit of a 12 to 15 percent salary hike. There has also been an increase in the pension of about 1.50 lakh pensioners of the state. The financial benefits of Rs. 7801 crore have been given to state government employees and pensioners from the year 2018 to 2022. The pensioners who retired before 2016 are getting the benefit of a 15 to 20 percent increase in the pension while around 40 thousand pensioners who retired after 2016 would be benefitted soon, he said.
He said the daily wages were Rs. 210 in the year 2017 which has been increased by the present state government to Rs. 350. Similarly, 12 per cent interim relief annually has been provided to government employees and pensioners during the present government’s tenure. He said the Himachal government has provided Dearness Allowance to its employees and pensioners on the lines of Punjab and Central governments from the due date. The Punjab government has given only 5 percent interim relief to the employees while the Himachal government has provided 21 percent interim relief to its employees.
“Out of the total interim relief amount given to the employees and pensioners amounting to about Rs. 6500 crore, Rs. 3500 crore has been paid during the tenure of our government” added the Chief Minister.
He said that the state government has increased the government contribution for NPS employees from 10 percent to 14 percent benefitting more than one lakh employees. The NPS employees are being given the benefits of retirement and death gratuity at par with employees falling under the old pension scheme. The government has also increased the upper limit of death gratuity from Rs. 10 lakh to Rs. 20 lakh.
The Chief Minister said the state government has also increased the honorarium of para-workers working in various departments. The salary of outsource workers has been hiked by Rs 1,500 per month.
Non-Gazetted Employees Federation President Ashwani Thakur thanked the Chief Minister for providing various financial and other benefits to different categories of government employees.
New Delhi-The Centre has issued a notification to the States informing that the provisions of the Disaster Management (DM) Act, 2005 will not be invoked in the country after March 31. The Union Health Ministry said that the use of face masks and following hand hygiene will continue.
It implies that most of the Covid-related rules and restrictions would end.
Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla issued the notification which said that the decision was taken following the overall improvement in the situation and the preparedness of the government in dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic.
However, local authorities and State police can still invoke fines and criminal cases against persons violating COVID-19 norms under the Indian Penal Code (IPC), a senior government official said.
The DM Act was invoked on March 24, 2020, due to the pandemic
“Over the last seven weeks or so there has been a steep decline in the number of cases. The total caseload in the country stands at 23,913 only and the daily positivity rate has declined to 0.28%. It is also worth mentioning that with the combined efforts, a total of 181.56 Cr vaccine doses have been administered,” the notification said.
“I would like to mention that in view of the nature of the disease, we still need to remain watchful of the situation. Wherever any surge in the number of cases is observed, the States/UTs may consider taking prompt and proactive action at a local level, as advised by MoHFW (Health Ministry) from time to time,” the notification said.
The Indian government had issued various guidelines and measures for the first time on March 24, 2020, under the Disaster Management Act to curb the COVID-19 situation in the country, which have been modified several times thereafter.
India currently has 23,087 active COVID-19 cases and recorded 1,778 new cases and 62 deaths in the last 24 hours. The daily positivity rate has also declined to 0.28%.
Shimla-A meeting of the Himachal Pradesh Cabinet was held on March 20, 2022, under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur.
The excise policy for the financial year 2022-23 was approved. Approval was also given for the renewal of retail excise vends in the state for the financial year 2022-23 at the renewal fees of 4% of the value of unit/vend.
The State Government said that wants to enhance the government revenue and curb the smuggling of country liquor from the neighbouring states by a reduction in its price.
The brands of Country Liquor will be cheaper as license fees have been reduced. This will help in providing good quality liquor at a cheaper rate to the consumers.
In the new excise policy, the 15% fixed quota of country liquor for manufacturers and bottlers to be supplied to the retail licensees has been abolished. According to the government, this step will give the retail licensees to lift their quota from the suppliers of their choice and further assure the supply of good quality country liquor at competitive prices. The MRP of country liquor will be cheaper by 16% of the existing price.
In this year’s policy, the Gaudhan Vikas Nidhi Fund has been enhanced by Re.1/- from the existing Rs.1.50 to Rs.2.50.
The fixed annual license fee of Bars has been rationalized by abolishing the area-specific slabs of license fee. Now throughout the State, there will be uniform license slabs based upon the room capacity in hotels.
Rates of the annual fixed license fee of Bars in the tribal areas has been reduced considerably.
Further, all the above stakeholders will have to install CCTV cameras at their establishments as it was made mandatory for them.
Wholesale vends and retail vends, the penalty provisions under the H.P. Excise Act, 2011 have been made more stringent.
An end to end online Excise Administration System would be established in Himachal Pradesh, the government said.
HP Government estimates a collection of Rs 2131 crore revenue during the year, which will be Rs. 264 crores higher than the financial year 2021-22 – growth of 14% in state excise revenues.
The Cabinet also gave its nod to amend Himachal Pradesh Disaster Relief Manual-2012 to include deaths due to biting of honey bees, hornet and wasps, accidental drowning and deaths due to accidents of vehicles (including land, water and air) under this Manual.
The Cabinet gave its approval for filling up 11 posts of ‘A’ Class Tehsildar in Revenue Department through direct recruitment on regular basis through Himachal Pradesh Public Service Commission.
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The HP Cabinet also gave its nod to HP State Toll Policy for the year 2022-23 which envisages auction cum tender for all the toll barriers in the State. During the year 2021-22, toll revenue has registered a growth of 20 percent of the previous year’s revenue.
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