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Himachal: Many Dead, Crops Destroyed By Rain, 495 Roads Still Closed

HP Government loses Rs. 775 crore in less than eight hours of torrential rain.
Himachal floods

Heavy rains across Himachal Pradesh since Sunday afternoon have caused extensive damage in the state claiming many lives. Hundreds of people were stranded after roads across the state were blocked due to landslides and overflowing drains. Dozens of vehicles were damaged in flash floods and cloudbursts. Schools, both private and government remained closed on Monday and Tuesday.

Extremely heavy rainfall occurred at some places in Solan, Mandi, Sirmaur, Kangra and Hamirpur districts, while heavy to very heavy rainfall occurred at a few places in Shimla, Kullu, Una, Bilaspur and Chamba districts, a statement by the meteorological office said. 

Sujanpur Tira town in Hamirpur recorded the highest rainfall in the state at 307 mm, while it was 300 mm in Arki town in Solan and 239 mm in Paonta Sahib in Sirmaur. The Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB) authorities released excess water from the Pandoh dam into the Beas river as heavy rain abnormally increased the water level in the reservoir. The water level in the state’s major rivers - the Satluj, Beas, and Yamuna - which enter the neighbouring states of Punjab and Haryana has also increased, a government official said.

Traffic was disrupted in six national highways, including Shimla-Chandigarh, Chandigarh-Manali, and Chamba-Pathankot. Landslides and rainfall blocked 923 roads across the state on Monday. Shimla meteorological centre director, Mr. Manmohan Singh said “barring Lahaul Spiti, the rest of HP saw 500% excessive rainfall in a day in the last 117 years with 172.6 mm rain being recorded on Monday in Shimla alone”. Four members of a family were buried alive in a landslide in Chakla Lamsar village in Solan, on Monday at 4 a.m. In another incident in Solan, one boy was washed away in a flooded nullah. In Hamirpur, a big mound of mud fell on a house, killing an elderly woman and her granddaughter.  A landslide killed a woman in Tadun village in Mandi’s Dharampur sub-division and Kansa village of Balh. A vehicle fell into the Pandoh dam and there was no news about the whereabouts of its occupants. In Bilaspur, one person was killed when his house collapsed due to heavy rain. In Una district, a road caved in due to which a car of pilgrims fell into a gorge, resulting in serious injuries and death of two girls.

83 roads in Dalhousie are closed to traffic movement. Solan's 74, Shimla's 28, Rampur’s 50, Nahan’s 27, Rohru’s 13, Mandi’s 76, Jogindranagar’s 10, Kullu’s 30, Hamirpur’s 9, Bilaspur’s 29, Una’s 1, Palampur’s 21, and 44 roads in Nurpur have been completely closed to traffic movement. Government officials have talked about opening all the closed roads after 15th August.
Long-queues of vehicles were stuck due to landslides at many places on the Chandigarh-Shimla highway. Seeing the crowd of vehicles, Solan district administration sent the government buses coming from Chandigarh via Nahan-Kalamb, in an attempt to reduce the crowd of vehicles on the road.

Due to heavy rains, crops have been devastated all over the state. On Monday itself, the Himachal government had lost around Rs. 775 crore within eight hours of rain in the morning. In the state’s capital Shimla, roads, crops, houses, vehicles have been damaged. The capital once again faced water crisis as the water supply was cut for 4 days with no electricity supply  for 2 days due to damages caused by the rain and landslides. Mr. Sanjay Chauhan, former Mayor of Shimla said, “People of Shimla city are badly affected due to heavy rain. There is no water to drink for 4 days, no supply of milk (and) bread for 2 days from road blocks, roads are filled with sludge and the city’s Deputy mayor and MLA are endorsing a milk company’s product shamefully in the MC office.”

Rajendra Rana, Sujanpur MLA and former Vice Chairman of State Disaster Management Authority, has said that heavy rains and floods have caused huge losses in Himachal Pradesh. Government agencies have estimated a loss of around Rs. 800 crore. If people's personal assets are added then this loss would be very high. Therefore, the central government must give at least Rs. 2,000 crore as relief aid to the state.

Presiding over a review meeting in Shimla on the damage caused by rains, chief secretary Vineet Chawdhry said the state had released Rs. 96.50 crore for relief and rescue operations. 

The flash floods and landslides are repeated year after year while the central government’s apathy to the situation in the state is reflected in the way the relief funds are released. Even as the state suffers huge economic losses amounting to almost Rs. 800 to 900 crore every year, the relief amount released by the centre hardly amounts to a mere 10 per cent of the damages incurred. This amount, too, is not awarded immediately and the state has to keep sending reminders for at least eight to nine months to force the authorities to act.  
 

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