Shimla, Sept. 1 -- As the hill state witnessed heavy destruction owing to rains, public works and urban development minister Vikramaditya Singh called for an "environment friendly" development model. He was speaking at the inauguration of the three-day sports competition of Under-14 Boys and Girls category of Kasumpti block at Government Model Senior Secondary School Ghanahatti in Shimla. "Development should not be known as a reason for destruction. In fact there should be no destruction due to development works," said Singh while sharing that from August 24 to 27, the state has suffered a loss of Rs 800 crore due to the disaster while the losses incurred by the state since June 20 are around Rs 3000 crore. Admitting that restoration of the affected area is the biggest challenge, he said, "While carrying out restoration there should be no misuse of government money at all. We have to save every penny, only then money will be accumulated for the development of the state". He said the incidents of cloudburst have increased a lot and this is an alarming situation for the state. "We have to change the development model which will be environment friendly and focus on that development model," he said. The state since June 20, has witnessed 95 landslides, 91 flashfloods and 45 cloudbursts. Singh also made a pitch for maintaining sanctity of religious places by adding, "The "Dev Sthals" of the state should not be polluted. There are many reasons behind all the Dev Sthals of Dev Bhoomi are established at high places. It is the duty of all of us to maintain the dignity of these sacred places. Today people are spreading garbage at Dev Sthals which is not right at all". The Jal Shakti Vibhag suffered Rs 100 crore loss during the ongoing destruction in the state owing to torrential rains. This was shared by deputy CM Mukesh Agnihotri who also holds Jal Shakti department. He directed the departmental officers to carry out relief and restoration works on a war footing. "Out of a total of 487 water supply schemes in the district, 394 have been partially restored, while restoration work on the remaining schemes is being carried out expeditiously," he said....