Himachal Pradesh rains: IAF (Indian Air Force) continued to provide humanitarian relief to flood-hit regions of Himachal Pradesh. The hill state recieved unpreceded natural clamity following heavy rains and a series of indicidents of landslides.
Two pregnant women – Reshma and Bolma of Balichowki subdivision in Mandi – were airlifted by an Air Force helicopter for treatment at Zonal Hospital Mandi along with their husbands, the officials said. According to the state’s Emergency Operation Centre, 448 roads are blocked in the state.
“More than 11000 kg of relief material was air distributed in far-flung areas and 4 patients were evacuated,” said HQ Western Air Command, IAF on Sunday.
Alternative road opened in Himachal’s Pandoh
The authorities in Himachal Pradesh on Saturday started diverting hundreds of stranded vehicles to Kullu and Mandi via an alternative road opened from Pandoh, Chief Parliamentary Secretary Sunder Singh Thakur said.
Hundreds of people were stuck near Pandoh in Mandi district after landslides triggered by heavy rain on August 23 blocked the Mandi-Kullu Highway and the Kandi Katola Road. The administration had arranged for the stranded people to stay in relief camps set up in hotels, rest houses and other places. Some vehicles were diverted towards Anni and Mandi late on Friday, Singh said.
“We requested additional police force in Mandi and Kullu and Director General of Police Sanjay Kundu has said that 50 personnel each would be deployed in the two districts,” he added.
Till August 25, 249 people have died in rain-related incidents since the onset of the monsoon on June 24. The Public Works Department alone has suffered losses to the tune of Rs 2,913 crore.
Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu earlier said that the state has so far suffered losses of Rs 12,000 crore due to the destruction caused by the monsoon rain.
Presiding over the 8th meeting of Himachal Pradesh State Disaster Management Authority here on Saturday, Chief Minister Sukhu said that about 47,390 volunteers were being provided disaster management training in the state so that their services could be utilized in the disaster hit areas.
Centre nod for additional 6,000 homes under PMAY for Himachal
Earlier, Union Minister Anurag Thakur said the Centre has sanctioned an additional 6,000 homes under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana for Himachal Pradesh to help the relief and rehabilitation efforts in the aftermath of the destruction caused by heavy rains in the state. Thakur said the Rural Development Ministry had earlier approved 5,000 homes under PMAY for Himachal and the sanction of additional 6,000 homes under the initiative will give a healing touch to the people of the hill state which is coping with the brunt of natural disasters.
Thakur met Rural Development Minister Giriraj Singh on Friday and thanked him for giving the nod to build 2,700 km of roads under the Pradhan Mantri Gramin Sadak Yojana in Himachal Pradesh.
Landslide victims helpless after Himachal rain fury
“Death would have better than going through this nightmare with nowhere to go and no shoulder to cry on,” said Promila who lost everything when a room in a building she stayed in crumbled in a landslide.
A landslide in the morning of August 23 damaged a building near Indira Gandhi Medical College Hospital (IGMCH) where Promila stayed with her ailing mother.
Narrating her plight on Friday, she said, “I live with my 75-year-old mother who is suffering from ovarian cancer and has been undergoing treatment since 2016. I also lost my job as a sales girl in a shop in Ram Nagar in the city market last week due to the recession as there were no customers. I slept at IGMCH on Thursday night as there is no place to go,” says Promila, who does not have siblings, or a father, and is also separated from her husband.
Shimla has witnessed several landslides in the past weeks with the toll in rain-related incidents in the city in the past 10 days rising to 27, which include 20 deaths in Summer Hill landslide, five in Fagli and two in Krishna Nagar.
Himachal Pradesh saw three major spells of heavy rains this monsoon. The first on July 9 and 10 led to large-scale destruction in Mandi and Kullu districts. Shimla and Solan districts were hit during the second spell on August 14 and 15 and Shimla city suffered heavy damage in the third spell on Tuesday night. Himachal rains: Buildings collapse in Kullu, hundreds stranded after landslides block highway
(With PTI inputs)
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