CII to extend helping hand to Uttarakhand

By 1 2 1 News Reporter

Chandigarh, 03rd July:-- The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) has geared up to lend a helping hand to the distressed people affected by the recent natural calamity in Uttarakhand,. A Special Task Force has been formed to provide relief to the flood devastated state. The Himalayan Tsunami has claimed thousands of lives so far, while hundreds are still stranded.

After communicating with the various Government Agencies, Army, NGOs and Disaster Management Cell, Uttarakhand, an interim assessment of the situation has been done and relief & rehabilitation operations in the affected areas have been planned by CII. 

 Chandrajit Banerjee, Director General, CII shared that "The industry is very much committed to provide maximum support to the victims as well as the district administration in providing relief and rehabilitation measures. The damage caused to the hill state by the cloud bursts, floods and landslides is massive and it will take a long time to "rebuild Uttarakhand". CII would lend its full support for the same".

 "CII has been constantly coordinating with the State Government and district administration of the impacted areas to channelize CII Foundation's efforts towards providing immediate relief and rehabilitation support. ", added Mr Banerjee. CII team is already camping in Rudraprayag district, which is the most affected area. CII has identified 3 clusters for relief and rehabilitation purposes - the Augustamuni - Tilawara cluster (Rudraprayag), Guptkashi cluster (Rudraprayag), Pindar Valley (Chamoli). CII would initially start its relief  and rehabilitation work in the Augustamuni - Tilawara cluster (Rudraprayag) which includes 8 villages having 500+ houses / families. CII would set up Camps next week to provide temporary shelters, water purifiers, solar lanterns, blankets, torches and warm clothing here.

 Jayant Davar, Chairman, CII Northern Region and Co-Chairman & Managing Director, Sandhar Technologies Ltd. said that  "To channelize the relief work in proper direction, the operation will be carried out in two phases". He further said that in the first phase, Relief camps would be set up to distribute necessary items like disaster kits, water purifiers, solar lanterns, medicines, blankets, shoes, chlorine tablets and toiletries etc. Health camps would also be organized in association with Fortis".

 "The second phase would comprise rehabilitation work.  Under this, focus will be on building low cost housing for those whose houses have been washed away. As per the District Administration, there is a requirement of hundreds of houses in Rudraprayag district alone.  CII is also exploring interventions based on the ground assessment towards clean drinking water facility, building schools & community centres and exploring livelihood opportunities for locals. The CII plans would be aligned with the state government's rehabilitation plan and is likely to include interventions in the areas of low cost housing, water solutions and livelihoods etc",Jayant Davar added.