Home Minister Amit Shah orders formation of special team on Himachal natural disasters

New Delhi: Union Home Minister Amit Shah has directed the formation of a multi-sectoral central team to assess the situation in Himachal Pradesh in view of the rising frequency and intensity of natural disasters in the hill state.

At a recent meeting, chaired by Shah, it was noted that Himachal Pradesh has witnessed an increase in the frequency and intensity of cloudbursts, flash floods, landslides and torrential rainfall, causing widespread loss of life, damage to infrastructure and livelihoods and environmental degradation in the state, an official release said.

Shah immediately ordered the constitution of a multi-sectoral central team comprising experts from the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), Central Building Research Institute (CBRI) Roorkee, Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM) Pune, and Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Indore to assess the situation, the release said.

Further, in the wake of floods, flash floods and landslides during the South West monsoon this year in different parts of Himachal Pradesh, the central government has already deputed an Inter-Ministerial Central Team (IMCT) in advance, without waiting for their Memorandum, for on-the-spot first-hand assessment of damage.

The IMCT is visiting the affected areas of the state from July 18-21.

Under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the central government stands firmly with the states in times of disasters without any discrimination, the release said.

In this direction, a high-level committee chaired by the home minister has already approved an outlay of Rs 2006.40 crore to Himachal Pradesh for recovery and reconstruction in areas affected by disasters like floods, landslides and cloudbursts for the year 2023, and has also released the first instalment of Rs 451.44 crore on July 7, 2025.

Further, in order to support the affected people of the state, the central government has already released the first instalment of the central share of Rs 198.80 crore to Himachal Pradesh from the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) on June 18, for relief measures of immediate nature.

The central government has also provided all logistic assistance to all states, including Himachal Pradesh, including deployment of requisite National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) teams, Army teams and Air Force support.

A total of 13 teams of NDRF are deployed in the state for rescue and relief operations.