1 more body recovered in Kullu; 826 roads still shut in Himachal
Dharamshala, Sept. 8 -- One more body was retrieved on Sunday from the debris of the house that had collapsed in Kullu's Akhara Bazaar on Thursday.
The deceased has been identified as 48-years-old Gulzar Ahmad Lone from Jammu and Kashmir. A total of nine people were buried under the debris after houses collapsed due to separate landslide incidents in Inner Akhara Bazaar on September 3 and 4.
Bodies of 8 people were recovered till Saturday, while the search for one person was underway. Officials on Sunday said that so far six bodies have been sent to Srinagar.
Meanwhile, road connectivity remained affected in many regions with 826 roads, including two national highways, blocked in the hill state on Sunday.
It included 225 roads in Kullu district, 191 in Mandi, 146 in Shimla and 88 in Chamba district. While 44 roads remained blocked in Kangra district, 36 and 32 roads were blocked in Sirmaur and Una districts respectively.
In Mandi district, the Mandi-Kullu stretch of Chandigarh-Manali National Highway was blocked again on Sunday due to a landslide at Dawada. Police officials said that restoration work was underway. The stretch which was blocked since August 31 was restored for traffic on Friday evening.
NH-305 and NH-03 remained blocked in Kullu district on Sunday.
Chief minister (CM) Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu on Sunday visited disaster-affected villages in the Sujanpur constituency of Hamirpur district and reviewed relief and rehabilitation works.
Sukhu assured the affected families of every possible support from the state government. He visited Khairi and adjoining villages to assess the flood and landslide damage and later inspected the land subsidence-affected area of Chabutra. He interacted with the displaced families and announced that the state government would provide Rs.7 lakh for house construction and Rs.70,000 for household items. Local MLA Captain Ranjit Singh has also extended Rs.1 lakh to each affected family, raising the total assistance to Rs.8.70 lakh per family.
Sukhu said that similar assessments were underway in other parts of Hamirpur district and relief was being extended to all affected families.
He said that the issue of transferring safe forest land for house construction would be taken up with the Central Government, along with the overall losses suffered by Himachal during the monsoon season.
Since the onset of the monsoon in Himachal Pradesh on June 20, as many as 366 people have lost their lives in rain-related incidents. This includes 203 deaths due to landslides, flash floods, cloudbursts, and drowning, while 163 people have died in road accidents.
More than 4,000 houses have either been partially or completely damaged so far.
Himachal public works department (PWD) minister Vikramaditya Singh, while talking to media, said, "We are making every effort to reopen roads that are currently blocked in the state. On the Chamba-Bharmour national highway, machinery has been deployed, and junior engineers (JEs) and SDOs have been deputed at every 10 km to monitor the work."
"It is a bitter truth that disasters have become a regular affair during monsoon season in Himachal. It causes damage to link roads and highways. Regarding this, our department is working to address some key issues for the future. One major issue is the dumping of muck during road cutting. In many cases, this muck is being dumped illegally, which has been a major contributing factor to disasters. We have taken serious note of this, and strict action will be taken whenever such illegal dumping is found," he said.
The minister also said that at several locations, naturalculverts have been blocked, disrupting the natural flow of water.
"During my ground visits, I have observed this issue firsthand. We will make every possible effort to address these issues on priority," he added....
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