State cabinet exempts electricity, water bills for six months, plans loan moratorium of one year for affected families

Saturday, 14 January 2023 | PNS | DEHRADUN

In a major decision, the Uttarakhand Government has decided to provide Rs 450 per day per person for the affected Families in Joshimath city as a provision for food. The government has also decided to provide two persons in every affected family the wages equivalent to the MGNREGS to compensate for loss of livelihood due to the disaster. These decisions were taken by the State cabinet in its meeting held at the secretariat on Friday. The meeting chaired by the chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami was centred on the Joshimath crisis precipitated by the continued land subsidence. In the meeting, the cabinet also approved the proposal to waive off the electricity and water bills of the affected families for a period of six months from the month of November last year. In an important decision the State cabinet also decided to hold studies to assess the carrying capacity of all the cities and towns in the mountainous areas.

The cooperative bank has been directed to a grant moratorium on the loans taken by the affected families for a period of one year. The families would not have to pay EMIs for a period of one year on the loans taken from the cooperative banks. The State government would request the union government that the nationalised and the private banks should also provide similar facilities to the affected families. The CS said that the cabinet also gave post facto approval for the proposal to draw Rs 45 crores from the contingency fund to provide interim relief of Rs 1.50 lakh to the displaced families in Joshimath. He added that the State cabinet also added villages Gaukh Selang and Dhak in the places identified for shifting the affected families. The district administration has already selected Peepalkoti, Koti Farm and Gauchar as the probable places for shifting the families. The state administration would conduct a detailed survey of these places and set up colonies made up of prefabricated structures for the affected families. In another decision the cabinet increased the earlier offered sum of Rs 4000 per month for the families who have left their homes and shifted to rented accommodation. The Cabinet also approved the proposal to provide the actual tariff or Rs 950 per day whichever is lower to the hotels acquired by the administration for stay of the affected families. The cabinet directed the administration to prepare a draft of the relief package within a week. This package would be demanded by the State government and would be demanded from the Union government. In an effort to provide relief to owners of cattle needing to be displaced, the cabinet granted a sum of Rs 15000 per cattle. A sum of Rs 80 and Rs 40 per day would be provided for fodder of larger and smaller animals respectively. Sandhu said that for treatment of toe erosion in Joshimath the cabinet decided that the project would be handed over whichever of the two, WAPCOS limited Gurugram or irrigation department of Uttarakhand proposes to start the work earlier. The CS added that eight different scientific agencies such as Geological Survey of India (GSI), National Institute of Hydrology, Central Building Research Institute Roorkee and Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology are engaged in different types of activities in and around Joshimath and they have been directed to submit their reports at the earliest. He said that the State government would set up a committee of experts which would study these reports and based on its assessment the state government would set up its plan of action in Joshimath.