Congress leader and AICC general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Tuesday visited the flood-hit areas of Himachal Pradesh's Mandi and Kullu districts and met the families who were affected due to the rainfall-triggered flooding. During her visit, she was accompanied by Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu and Public Works Department Minister Vikramaditya Singh. She will also oversee relief and restoration works going on in the affected regions. Landslides and flash floods that were triggered by incessant rain have wreaked havoc in Kullu and Mandi districts in the past few weeks, reported news agency PTI.
Priyanka arrived at the Bhuntar airport in Kullu on Tuesday morning and received flowers from local women at the airport. She talked to the Congress workers and the local farmers regarding apple production, transportation and the rate per box.
Vadra had recently alleged that the apple boxes in Himachal Pradesh are being sold at one-third of the rates after the Adani Group released its procurement rate. She asked why Prime Minister Narendra Modi wasn't doing anything for them.
After meeting families displaced by the floods in July in Kullu and Manali, Priyanka heads for Pandoh and Mandi, the epicentre of cloudbursts and floods in July and August, before going to Shamli in Solan district, where houses have been damaged due to land subsidence.
More than 260 people have died due to rain-related incidents in Himachal Pradesh, according to the state emergency operation centre. The state suffered losses of Rs 8,679 crores since the arrival of monsoon on June 24. As per PTI, the state witnessed around 165 landslides, 72 flash floods during the season. 111 people died due to landslides out of which 94 were reported in Kullu, Mandi, Shimla and Solan districts.
CM Sukhu has given the estimated figure of losses incurred by the state to be somewhere around Rs 12,000 crore. He has also urged PM Modi to declare the calamity in Himachal Pradesh as a national disaster, reported PTI.