'Mountain-like challenge' before Himachal, state needs a year to rebuild infrastructure: CM Sukhu

Rains this week triggered landslides across the state, blocking roads and bringing down houses. About 60 people are dead, and more are feared buried under the rubble.

Himachal Pradesh will take a year to rebuild the infrastructure wrecked by the heavy rains this monsoon but the state is up to the“mountain-like challenge”, Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu said on Wednesday.

In an interview with PTI, he said the estimated damage in the two devastating spells of heavy rain – this week and in July – is about Rs 10,000 crore.

Rains this week triggered landslides across the state, blocking roads and bringing down houses. About 60 people are dead, and more feared buried under the rubble.

The chief minister said it takes time to rebuild roads and water projects. But the government is speeding up the process. “We have to get the infrastructure fully restored within a year. I am working with this in mind.” “It’s a big challenge, a mountain-like challenge. But we are not going to back away,” he said.

The state government will continue with its vision to make Himachal Pradesh “self-reliant” in four years and the country’s “most prosperous” state in 10 years.“But it will take a year for us to rise from this tragedy,” Sukhu, whose Congress government came to power, last December, said.

He laid the blame for the massive damage on the intensity of the rains since Sunday -- saying this was the “first time” about 50 people died in a single day -- and on the lack of “structural designing” in the state.

Buildings obstruct the natural course of water flow at places, and there is little attention paid to designing structures. “The river didn’t enter homes, the homes entered the river,” he said.

He stopped short of identifying the widening of roads by the National Highways Authority of India as a significant cause, saying most of the landslides weren’t at the edge of these roads.

The CM said climate change could have played a part. It never rained like this before in Lahaul-Spiti, he said, giving an example.

During the interview, he indicated there would be new guidelines and tougher implementation of building rules. He cited issues like proper drainage, studying the soil on which buildings are being constructed and a consideration of weight-bearing capacity of floors.

He also called for change in central government norms for helping states that face natural calamities. The hill states and those in the Northeast should get more, he said.

The Centre gives Rs 1.5 lakh for repairing one kilometre of damaged road, he said. “That’s nothing.”

Sukhu said Himachal Pradesh gets ignored because it has small representation in Parliament, but the state should be given a special package by the Centre as it is the “lungs of northern India”.

He urged tourists to continue visiting Himachal Pradesh, saying the broken roads to Shimla and Kangra Valley will be restored.

“And after the monsoons, come anytime,” he said, asking tourists to celebrate Diwali and the New Year in his state.