Prime Minister Manmohan Singh scribbles a get-well message on the plastered arm of a patient at the STNM Hospital in Gangtok on Thursday. Picture by Prabin Khaling

Gangtok, Sept. 29: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today announced an interim relief of Rs 1,000 crore for immediate restoration of infrastructure after a tour of earthquake battered Sikkim.

This amount, the first instalment, is in addition to the Rs 70 crore released by the Centre four days after the 6.9 quake hit Sikkim a little more than a week ago, taking the total central relief to Rs 1,070 crore.

Officials here said the state government had placed before the Prime Minister a plea for a relief amount of Rs 7,000 crore, based on an assessment report prepared by it.

Singh did a 75-minute aerial survey of the worst-hit areas of North Sikkim in an army chopper that he boarded from Bagdogra in Siliguri around 10am. He then visited some of the victims under treatment at the government-run STNM Hospital in Gangtok.

During the 30-minute meeting that followed between Singh and chief minister Pawan Chamling in Gangtok, chief secretary Karma Gyasto gave a PowerPoint presentation on the destruction and damage caused by the September 18 quake. Chamling presented a memorandum to the Prime Minister, pleading relief under “national calamity”.

Singh assured the state of all help and announced an interim relief fund of Rs 1,000 crore for immediate restoration of damaged infrastructure like roads, buildings, schools, water supply and power lines, said Sikkim government spokesperson K.S. Topgay.

“The amount is the first instalment. This is for immediate restoration work. We have already given our memorandum and now the Centre will examine it. We warmly appreciate what the Centre has given to us but we expect more,” said Topgay.

Union home minister P. Chidambaram, who visited Sikkim on September 22, had said long and medium-term rehabilitation programmes would be drawn up for the state based on two central assessments.

An eight-member central team led by Shambu Singh, the joint secretary of the ministry of home affairs, is already touring the affected areas to prepare the assessment report. The team has covered North Sikkim and toured the affected areas of East and South districts today.

Singh today gave top priority to restoration of the road network in Sikkim. He has directed the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) to clear the strategic North Sikkim highway leading to Chungthang by October 15.

Chungthang is 100km from Gangtok and is inaccessible because of multiple slides along the North Sikkim highway. The highway, looked after by the BRO’s Project Swastik, is important, as it is the sole link to the army and ITBP bases along the Indo-China border and also to Lachen and Lachung, the major tourism destinations.

“The Prime Minister has also directed the BRO that the restoration of the roads above Chunthang should be taken up urgently so that full connectivity is restored along the North Sikkim highway. Special dispensation will be made available for road construction. He also assured us that the aerial support from the army to reach food and evacuate people will continue till the roads are restored in North Sikkim,” said Topgay. Singh also said restoration of religious monuments would get priority.

“The Prime Minister advised the state government to learn from its experience by using proper building technology and strong building bylaws, so as to be better prepared for future occurrences of earthquakes. He will be directing central experts to assist our town planners and officials on this,” said the spokesperson.

The Prime Minister took off for Bagdogra from the Libing helipad around 1.30pm.

Army spokesperson Col Ravi Patil said the relief and rescue operations through dozen army choppers were not affected during the Prime Minister’s visit. “When the army helipad (in Libing) was occupied because of the Prime Minister’s visit, most of our relief operations to North Sikkim were being conducted from Mangan,” he said.