We’ll rebuild Uttarakhand: Chidambaram
A Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Authority will be constituted
Authority will look into planning and development 
Blanket ban on construction along river-banks
Electricity and water bills to be waived in flood ravaged areas
Employment in the state under NREGA hiked to 150 days
Norms for relief and rehabilitation to be revised
press trust of india
New Delhi, 1 July
Government will seek financial aid from multilateral bodies like World Bank and Asian Development Bank for reconstruction and rehabilitation in flood-ravaged Uttarakhand, Finance Minister P Chidambaram said today.
He said funds will not be a constraint for rebuilding the mountainous state which had witnessed the worst ever floods last month that killed several hundreds and destroyed properties worth crores.
“We are trying to develop a (financial) package for rehabilitation and reconstruction for which we will go to multilateral bodies, like we did in Tsunami case,” Chidambaram told PTI.
“Prime Minister has already announced Rs 1,000 crore. Different ministries are using their own funds. Tourism has announced Rs 100 crore. Funds will not be a constraint. I have said it on the first day,” the minister said.
Besides seeking aid from these multilateral agencies, the government will soon send a joint team of Finance Ministry and Home Ministry to discuss with Uttarakhand state officials the redevelopment plan for the calamity-hit state.
“What I have approved is that a team from the Finance Ministry and Home Ministry will go to Uttarakhand to sit (and discuss) with Uttarakhand Government officers,” Chidambaram said.
In view of the gravity of the situation, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had last month announced financial support of Rs 1,000 crore to Uttarakhand for disaster relief, of which Rs 145 crore was released immediately.
Singh had also announced ex-gratia assistance of Rs 2 lakh each to families of those who had lost their lives and Rs 50,000 each to the injured, from the Prime Ministers National Relief Fund (PMNRF).
The government had also decided to provide from the PMNRF, an ex-gratia assistance of Rs 1 lakh each to those whose houses have been completely destroyed and Rs 50,000 each to those whose houses have been damaged.
Meanwhile, a total of 1,350 people have been evacuated from Badrinath while over 3,500 remain untraced in the flood-hit state even as a UN agency estimated that the number of missing could be over 11,000.
“There are some locals too like shopkeepers and ashram dwellers who also are being evacuated,” NDMA Vice Chairman M Shashidhar Reddy told reporters here today. The number of dead stands at 580 while the NDRF has rescued 8,634 people from Kedarnath taking the overall evacuation to 1,08,253 people, he said.
He said maximum deaths have occurred in the Kedarnath and Rambada areas while the number of injured registered so far has risen to is 3,119 compared to the figures of 436 on Saturday.
He said the total number of affected villages has risen from 2,000 to above 4,000.