Claiming they were equally affected by rain and floods as those in Uttarakhand, residents of tribal Kinnaur in Himachal Pradesh today urged the state government to declare the district as "Disaster Affected" and stop all activities affecting the environment.
Hundreds of people from the tribal district, organised by environmental groups Him Lok Jagriti Manch and Himdhara, sent memorandum to the Chief Minister and the Governor urging them to address their concerns over the widespread destruction caused by rains between June 15 and 17.
At least 23 people have died and over 20,000 cattle perished besides large-scale destruction to houses, they said in the memorandum.
"The damage and loss suffered by Kinnaur were no less than Uttarakhand, but the government has failed to declare the area as disaster affected," Ranjit Singh Negi of Him Lok Jagriti Manch said.
The memorandum demanded parity in quantum of relief with the Uttarakhand government which provided three times more to its people.
Soumya Dutta, a climate change expert from Delhi, said, "Scientific studies have indicated that these kind of extreme climatic incidents would increase in frequency and intensity in the future. Both government and the public have to enhance disaster preparedness and community-managed disaster risk reduction."
The memorandum also called for a moratorium on all hydropower and other future projects in the geologically fragile landscape as they have been "responsible for aggravating the scale of the disaster".
