Himachal Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu has said he has not made any remark on Bihar migrant workers as the state battles massive landslides triggered by heavy rainfall. The clarification came after social media backlash over a media report that quoted him as saying that the state does not have local masons and migrants from Bihar work on the constructions.
He said, "I did not say anything as such. The people of Bihar were also stuck here. I got them evacuated by helicopters. Around 200 people from Bihar are still stuck here. They are like our brothers. It is the fault of our structural engineering, they are just labourers."
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The Indian Express earlier quoted him as saying: "People construct houses without applying scientific methods. In recently made buildings, the drainage system is very poor. People believe they are draining the water without knowing that water is going nowhere but into the hills, making them fragile. Shimla is more than one and a half-century old, and its drainage system was excellent. Now, there are buildings in the nullahs (runlets). The houses, which are collapsing these days have not gone through the standards of structural engineering. The migrant architects (masons), whom I call ‘Bihari architects’, come here and construct floor on floor. We do not have local masons.”
As the toll in the rain-battered stated climbed to 71, Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu said it will take a year for the state to rebuild the infrastructure and claimed that the estimated loss in the two devastating spells of heavy rains - this week and in July - is about Rs 10,000 crore, news agency PTI reported.
Heavy rain lashed the hill state since Sunday, triggering landslides in several districts including Shimla where three areas -- Summer Hill, Fagli and Krishna Nagar -- are badly hit by landslips.