Haryana offers to reconstruct 25 villages in Uttarakhand

 By Haryananewswire

CHANDIGARH, JUNE 24

 Haryana has offered Uttarakhand to reconstruct 25 of its villages, out of several  villages that have been adversely affected by the recent unprecedented rain, floods and landslides and Haryana has already been sending relief supplies to accelerate the pace of relief operation.

          The Haryana Chief Minister, Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda, who was addressing mediapersons here today, said that he made the offer to reconstruct the villages during his meeting with the Chief Minister of Uttarakhand, Mr Vijay Bahuguna in Dehradun the other day.

          He said that as a result of the Centres set up by Haryana Government in Dehradun, Rishikesh and Haridwar, reports of 1044 stranded pilgrims hailing from Haryana have been received and most of them are safe. He said that all out efforts are being made to ensure the safe return of the pilgrims to their respective destinations.

          While giving details of 1044 persons of Haryana, he said that while a maximum of 330 are from district Karnal followed by 89 from Panipat, 82 from Sonepat, 77 from Gurgaon and 71 from Ambala. While referring to the number of such persons hailing from other districts of the State, he said that they included 29 each from Bhiwani, Yamunanagar and Faridabad, 41 from Panchkula, three from Fatehabad, 37 from Jhajjar, 49 from Jind, 10 from Kaithal, 17 from Kurukshetra, six each from Mahendragarh and Palwal, 10 from Rewari, 15 from Rohtak, eight from Sirsa and 33 from other areas.

          He said that yesterday, he had received a phone call from Swami Dharam Dev about 188 persons stranded at Badrinath and they have been brought to the Army camp. He said that after visiting the Chief Minister of Uttarakhand, he had left his helicopter there to undertake rescue operation and yesterday the pilot informed him that 65 stranded persons have been taken to safe place with the help of the helicopter. He said that the Haryana Government and the Haryana Pradesh Congress Committee had offered to give planes for the relief operation, but the Uttarakhand Government did not accept the offer because the terrain of the affected area is not favourable for planes.

          Mr Hooda said that till yesterday, a total of 92,000 persons have been brought to the safer places and the search is on to help those still stranded.

          He said that apart from sending 25,000 blankets to Uttarakhand, as demanded by the Government of Uttarakhand, we have dispatched one lakh doses of vaccine required to treat the cattle suffering from ‘Gal Ghotu’ disease. Also, out of the total demand for 25,000 doses for treatment of Black Quarter, today we have supplied 16,000 doses   and the remaining would be sent by tomorrow.

          He said that he was very much appreciative of the manner in which the Chief Minister of Uttarakhand has undertaken the rescue and relief operation and he was also grateful to the Indian Army and Air Force for their cooperation.

          The Chief Minister appealed to all those stranded persons to take courage and they will be brought out safely.