Manipur Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) president Keisham Meghachandra on Friday requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi to urgently declare the recent hailstorm in Manipur as a natural disaster and grant immediate relief of a minimum Rs 200 crore for the affected people of Manipur in a time bound manner.
A letter has been sent to Prime Minister Narendra Modi through PMO, New Delhi regarding the matter.
In the letter, Meghachandra sought the attention of PM Modi towards the recent unprecedented natural disaster in the form of hailstorm with strong winds which hit the state in different parts of Manipur on May 5. The hailstorm affected a large section of the state and the people of Manipur have not yet experienced such a natural disaster in its recent history, it said. The disaster has affected nearly thousands of houses and affected lakhs of people of Manipur, it mentioned.
It further mentioned that considering the seriousness of the issue, the government should declare it as a natural disaster and accordingly also grant a Central government’s relief of a minimum of Rs 200 crore for the affected people of Manipur in a time-bound manner, in the larger interest of the people of Manipur.
A team of MPCC members led by its state president K Meghachandra inspected some affected houses due to the recent hailstorm at Naoriya Pakhanglakpa assembly constituency along with its general secretary S Manaoton.
During the visit, Meghachandra said Chief Minister N Biren Singh had claimed officially that a total of 15,425 houses were affected due to the recent hailstorm that occurred on May 5. As necessary assistance the government has also sanctioned Rs 6.90 crores under state disaster relief fund but the amount is not appropriate, he mentioned.
Citing an example, Meghachandra said that a total of 5,600 houses were damaged in Imphal East district and 6,053 houses were damaged in Imphal West district. However, N Biren had announced earlier that Rs 15 lakh each will be sanctioned for each affected valley district, he said. The sanctioned amount for each district will simply not fulfil the required aid and assistance, he added.
In addition to the affected houses, many vegetable farms, poultry firms and others were also affected by the thunderstorm, he said. The amount sanctioned at present is like putting a pinch of salt into Loktak Lake, he asserted.
If the state is not on good terms with the Central government, then the state government could adjust some financial packages from other departments as an alternative measure, said Meghachandra.
He further appealed to the Prime Minister to declare the recent hailstorm in Manipur as a national disaster and to sanction at least Rs 200 crores in order to provide necessary assistance for the affected people.
