India News | Ex-MP Anand Sharma Seeks Immediate Relief Package for Himachal, Seeks SC Intervention in Clearance of Projects
Get latest articles and stories on India at LatestLY. Senior Congress leader and former Union minister Anand Sharma on Wednesday urged the Centre to immediately release an interim relief package for calamity-hit Himachal Pradesh, saying partisan politics has no place in such a situation.
New Delhi, Aug 17 (PTI) Senior Congress leader and former Union minister Anand Sharma on Wednesday urged the Centre to immediately release an interim relief package for calamity-hit Himachal Pradesh, saying partisan politics has no place in such a situation.
He also requested the Supreme Court to take urgent note of the matter and the NGT to intervene and review the guidelines, mandatory parameters and technology for all future projects cleared in the state.
Sharma said a time-bound forensic audit be ordered on the quick and "indiscriminate" approvals and sanctions in cutting of hills and felling of millions of trees and accountability must be fixed at all levels.
In a statement, he said Himachal Pradesh needs the nation's solidarity in this hour of crisis.
Sharma said the people of Himachal Pradesh are suffering due to the unprecedented natural disasters during this year's monsoon.
The tragic loss of human lives, livelihoods and the enormous damage to the infrastructure including highways and bridges of strategic importance are overwhelming, Sharma noted.
"Himachal needs nation's solidarity in this hour of crisis. It was the demand and rightful expectation that Union government will sanction a special relief package and stand by the people of Himachal Pradesh. That is the constitutional duty of the Centre.
"The indifferent attitude of the Centre and long delay in announcing the package is most unfortunate and unacceptable. Partisan politics must have no place in such a situation. A robust interim relief package be sanctioned immediately," he said.
The former Rajya Sabha member from Himachal Pradesh said the devastation also raises some fundamental questions regarding the approach to infrastructure development and the methodology adopted.
"It was an imperative that global benchmarks and best technology alone guided the expansion of highways and other projects to minimise the loss to ecology and environment. Himalayas are fragile and must be protected. A time-bound forensic audit be ordered on the quick and 'indiscriminate' approvals and sanctions in cutting of hills and felling of millions of trees. Accountability must be fixed at all levels," he demanded.
"The Supreme Court must take urgent note of the matter and NGT needs to intervene too and review the guidelines, mandatory parameters and technology for all future projects," Sharma said.
He also claimed that he has raised these issues in Parliament as well as with the government in the past when several infrastructure projects in the state were cleared quickly.
(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)