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Storms, lightning claim 23 lives in State

By Staff Reporter

GUWAHATI, May 14 - In the past few weeks, incidents of storm and lightning took a toll of 23 human lives. During the current year, these two natural disasters have till date affected around 22,801 families in the State, said the Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA) here today in a statement.

While ten cases of death have been attributed to storm, 13 cases of death have been attributed to lightning by the ASDMA. It informed that altogether 18 districts have been affected by the two phenomena. Of them, the worst hit districts include Golaghat, Sivasagar, Dhubri, Sontipur and Cachar.

It further said that the Government is on alert and in a state of preparedness to take care of all emergencies in this regard.

It also informed that the State Government has directed all the Deputy Commissioners (DCs) to release ex-gratia of Rs 4 lakh to the next of kin of each of the deceased persons within 48 hours. The State Government has already delegated financial power to the DCs of all the districts for sanction of ex-gratia etc. The DCs of the storm-affected districts are also directed to immediately take steps for assessment and reporting of the loss of property

This is to be done for the expeditious release of the rehabilitation grant for the fully / severely damaged houses as per the Government of India norms. The Government of India norms say that rehabilitation grant should be released for the pucca or kutcha houses at the rate of Rs 95,100 in the plain areas, and at the rate of Rs 1, 01,900 in the hilly areas.

For each of the partially damaged pucca houses, the rehabilitation grant should be released at the rate of Rs 5,200, while for each of the partially damaged kutcha houses at the rate of Rs 3,200 and for each of the partially damaged huts at the rate of Rs 4,100 the rehabilitation grants are to be released.

While the ASDMA has also taken steps for awareness on Do�s and Don�ts in storm and lightning scenario through electronic media, the respective District Disaster Management Authorities (DDMAs) have taken steps for trimming trees to avoid casualties.

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