00:00 I feel that the way the Himachal Pradesh has been destroyed,
00:09 and the unprecedented environment created by the devastating rains,
00:17 the nationalists are not paying attention to this.
00:23 This is why we are holding a press conference in ICC today.
00:27 This is the first time in the history of Himachal Pradesh that such a devastating disaster has occurred.
00:32 As of now, 330 people have died and 35 people are missing.
00:40 12,000 houses have been destroyed and collapsed.
00:48 Almost 13,000 crores have been lost. The highways have been flooded.
01:05 All over the country, whether it is Upper or Lower Himachal, the rains have caused such devastation that you cannot imagine.
01:17 75,000 tourists were trapped and 17,000 vehicles were lost.
01:25 The Himachal government rescued them within 48 hours.
01:31 In the Chandratal of Piti, about 4,500 meters high, 300 tourists were trapped.
01:37 The Himachal government rescued them.
01:40 The Chief Minister Sukhuji, the Chief Minister Mukesh Agnihotri, all the ministers,
01:46 all the officials and workers, all together, rescued them.
01:53 The state government is doing its best, but it is not taking the name of stopping the devastation.
01:59 It rained from 7th to 15th July, and now it is raining from 10th to 14th August.
02:04 Upper Himachal was saved, but it is also in a terrible state.
02:07 The rains have caused devastation, the clouds have burst.
02:10 The apple season is going on, the crops of the farmers are ready, but there is no way to get it.
02:16 So, here, we are asking the Indian government in the press conference that it should declare a national calamity.
02:26 This is an unprecedented situation. It has never happened in the history of Himachal.
02:31 And the way the Kedarnath temple was destroyed in Uttarakhand,
02:39 and the way the earthquake in Bhuj was a disaster,
02:43 the Himachal government should give a package of relief to the state government on that note.
02:49 We are asking for a package of 10,000 crores, we are asking for a national calamity declaration,
02:55 and we are asking the Indian government, because we have received 200 crores,
02:58 and nothing will happen with 200 crores.
03:01 The situation is like a camel eating cumin, and everyone knows that there is a terrible devastation.
03:06 And I appeal to all the people of the country, that whoever can help, should help Himachal.
03:12 And the Lok Sabha President and the Rajya Sabha President, both of them have a request,
03:19 that the MPs should also be given a package of relief, like they did in the tsunami and in Bhuj,
03:24 so that people can give money from the MPs' bank.
03:27 So, the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha and the Speaker of the Lok Sabha should be given a package of relief,
03:36 so that people can give their money from the MPs' bank in Himachal.
03:40 Because you people don't know the situation there.
03:45 And this would have affected the whole world, because so many foreign tourists come to Himachal,
03:49 that you people don't know.
03:51 Foreign tourists stay in Himachal forcibly, and the biggest attraction is the tourism.
03:56 So, this is why this message is sent to the whole world.
04:00 So, for Himachal, we are asking you people to give us a package of 10,000 crores,
04:09 so that a national disaster is declared. Two teams have gone there from the Kerala government,
04:15 and they have calculated the loss.
04:17 And according to the rules of disaster management there,
04:26 if someone's house breaks, then 10,000 rupees are given.
04:30 That won't work.
04:32 The Rajya Sabha government is giving at least 1 lakh rupees,
04:35 by changing its rules, increasing it by 10 times.
04:38 And the house that broke, is given 1.25 lakh rupees.
04:43 The entire house is given 1.25 lakh rupees, and the rest is given 10,000 rupees.
04:50 Nothing will happen with that, where else in the mountains?
04:53 So, that is why, the governments of Rajasthan, Karnataka, and Haryana
04:58 have given financial support to Himachal Pradesh.
05:01 The rest of the states should also be given.
05:04 And the Indian government should give a package of 10,000 crores,
05:06 on the basis of Kedarnath and Bhoj transit.
05:10 And this should be declared a national disaster.
05:14 This is what we are asking for through you people.
05:16 And Mr. Gatkari has also taken a look at how the roads are damaged.
05:22 We request him to rebuild the roads and start the work as soon as possible.
05:31 We request the Prime Minister to give us a special package for the disaster management.
05:41 We request the Prime Minister to do this.
05:44 Today, the Manrega was implemented,
05:49 which was implemented by Manmohan Singh for the help of the common people.
05:54 So, today we are praying that the people of Himachal,
05:59 for the help of the Indian government,
06:03 to deal with the disaster.
06:06 This is why I have organized this press conference.
06:09 Sir, the Prime Minister of Haryana has also met with you.
06:15 So, did he ask for a refund from the government?
06:22 No, the Prime Minister had come and he had met everyone.
06:26 He met the Prime Minister, the Home Minister, the Minister of Science,
06:29 and Mr. Gatkari and he had requested everyone.
06:33 Himachal's situation is very bad. He also knows about Himachal.
06:36 So, he gave full assurance that we will do it.
06:38 But it has not happened yet.
06:40 So, the sooner it happens, the better.
06:42 And there, the political parties should not be involved in this.
06:47 The party should try to do this.
06:51 Instead, they should provide help.
06:52 For example, when Manmohan Singh was in power,
06:55 there were many problems.
06:57 There were other governments, but they immediately helped.
06:59 Because these things, there is no party or government involved.
07:03 The common man is troubled in this.
07:06 This is for the benefit of the people.
07:08 So, I request that they immediately help us,
07:12 and give us the package.
07:15 Sir, can you give us a response?
07:18 We cannot say this yet.
07:19 Because we are asking for it.
07:21 We are requesting them to give it as soon as possible.
07:25 Sir, you said that the attention that Himachal's tragedy should have got
07:30 from the central government, is not getting.
07:33 Is this the reason behind this?
07:35 While the Chief Minister and the National President of BJP himself went there.
07:38 He has a state as well.
07:40 What did I say?
07:42 Do you believe that the result of the election is the effect of
07:47 the Himachal's tragedy?
07:48 I don't want to do any political analysis.
07:51 I said that the tension of the whole country should be there
07:54 towards the Himachal's tragedy.
07:56 Not the central government, but the country.
07:58 We went to the central government, the Chief Minister, and all the ministers.
08:01 They are saying that the whole country should be tensed.
08:05 Just like they started giving the corporate jobs everywhere,
08:08 even on the tsunami, and the tragedy of Bhuj,
08:12 the corporate should not help in that way.
08:16 There is no environment.
08:17 Just like they started giving the jobs in Bollywood.
08:20 They are asking you to help them because you are the national journalists.
08:24 The whole country will be affected by you.
08:26 The whole country, and the people of the rest of the country,
08:28 have no attention towards Himachal.
08:31 That is why we want to raise the issue on a national level,
08:34 so that the people get tensed, and they help the people of Himachal.
08:38 We have asked the central government twice, three times.
08:43 First, declare this as a national tragedy.
08:44 Second, a package of 10,000 crores should be given.
08:48 Third, the people's assembly, the assembly leaders, and the president,
08:53 should help Himachal from all sides.
09:00 Otherwise, the situation is very bad.
09:02 You know that in Himachal Pradesh, there is very less budget,
09:05 and very less money.
09:07 There is no source of income.
09:10 It is very important that people help Himachal.
09:13 It is a very big tourist destination.
09:15 All the big religious temples are there.
09:18 So people should help Himachal from all sides.
09:21 This is my request to the people of the country through you.
09:25 Rajivji, Rahul Gandhi was going to go.
09:27 Himachal was being planned for him.
09:29 But he went to Leh-Ladakh, and at that time,
09:32 due to security reasons, and it was said that he could not go due to the weather.
09:37 Because there was continuous weather forecast of rain and storm.
09:45 So he did not come to the program officially.
09:49 So it was not possible for anyone to go.
09:53 Now in the coming time, he will go.
09:55 He will decide.
09:57 His office has no idea.
09:59 Sir, on another matter.
10:04 Sir, Chandrayaan is going to be landed today.
10:07 I can say that we wish for a successful launch of Chandrayaan.
10:12 Our mission should be successful.
10:14 Manmohan Singh's government had started the Chandrayaan project.
10:19 The government has moved it forward.
10:21 It is a very good thing.
10:23 We want to congratulate the scientists of our country for this.
10:26 And we pray to God that this mission is successfully completed.
10:33 We will be happy to see this success.
10:35 If it is successful, we are waiting for it.
10:39 And we thank our scientists.
10:42 And this is science and technology.
10:45 No government has started it, but all governments have moved it forward.
10:48 So we do not read anyone's comments.
10:53 We praise all governments who move science and technology forward.
10:57 And we wish that the scientists' efforts are successful.
11:02 Sir, I have a question related to Chandrayaan.
11:04 Sir, a big leader, Mr. Vivek, has also said that
11:09 the scientists who were involved in this project
11:14 have not received their salary or pension for the last 17 months.
11:19 I have not read any of their statements.
11:21 So I will not comment on it.
11:23 Sir, I have a question related to Chandrayaan.
11:25 Sir, you have not given your name.
11:29 We do not have much information on that.
11:32 Only those who are following this can tell us.
11:35 Sir, I have a question related to Chandrayaan.
11:38 BJP says that the achievement of the BJP and Modi government in 9 years
11:43 has not been achieved in the tenure of Nehru and Manmohan Singh.
11:47 This is a tweet by Venugopal.
11:50 We strongly condemn the idiotic acts of the staff members of Chhattisgarh CM.
11:54 Completely out of the race in the upcoming elections,
11:58 the BJP is trying its dirtiest tricks to intimidate and rattle the Congress.
12:03 However, we have the support of 3 core Chhattisgarhi people
12:07 and such cheap tactics will not affect us.
12:09 But they only show the BJP's desperation.
12:12 This is a tweet by Venugopal.
12:14 Sir, I have a question related to Chandrayaan.
12:17 The achievement of the BJP and Modi government in 9 years
12:22 has not been achieved in the tenure of Nehru and Manmohan Singh.
12:27 What would you say on this?
12:28 I can only say that India was there before 2014.
12:36 India had many things.
12:39 All the Prime Ministers had a contribution.
12:41 Whether it was Nehru, or Shastriji, or Guljari Lal Nanda,
12:49 or Indira Gandhi, or Murarji Desai, or Chaudhary Charan Singh.
12:56 Or after them, Jan Shekharji, P.V. Narasimha Raoji,
13:02 Dev Gowdaji, Indra Kumar Gujralji, Raju Gandhiji,
13:08 P.V. Narasimha Raoji, Dr. Manmohan Singh,
13:13 Atal Bihari Bajpai,
13:15 Bajpai's name is Atal Bihari Bajpai,
13:18 but they never mention Indira's name.
13:22 So what can we do?
13:23 There was nothing before 2014.
13:26 There was only a jungle, no trains, no ships, no bridges, no railways.
13:31 There was nothing before that.
13:33 There were no cameras, no phones, nothing.
13:37 So what can we do?
13:39 Atalji's government started the work of setting up the road.
13:44 No one should give credit to anyone.
13:47 Not everyone in the BJP says this,
13:51 but there is a group that runs it.
13:52 And they don't know that they are blaming their own governments.
13:58 So it is the effort of all governments,
14:01 whether it is a foreign policy or a development policy.
14:06 I remember that once in a press conference,
14:09 Narasimha Raoji was asked a question in Spain.
14:11 He said that the process of economic reforms is irreversible.
14:15 No government can bring it back.
14:19 So all these policies, whether scientific or economic,
14:24 are taken forward by every government.
14:26 It should not be done by its own people.
14:29 This is what I want to say.
14:31 (upbeat music)
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