HYDERABAD: Himachal Pradesh High Court on Saturday directed the Larji hydroelectric power project (HP State Electricity Board), the state government, and VNR Vigyan Jyoti Institute of Engineering & Technology to pay a sum of `20 lakh to the kin of the 24 BTech students who died in the Beas tragedy in Mandi district of Himachal Pradesh on June 8, 2014.
The High Court ordered that 60 per cent of the compensation amount would be borne by the HP State Electricity Board for not issuing alerts before releasing the dam water. It said that 30 per cent of the compensation would be borne by the college management for negligence in taking safety precautions. The state government of Himachal Pradesh will bear 10 per cent of compensation, said the court order.
The incident had taken place during an educational/ industrial tour of 48 students and 3 faculty members of VNR Vignana Jyothi Institute of Engineering and Technology. They were on their way from Simla to Manali.
While some of the students were clicking photographs on the banks of the Beas river on the Mandi-Manali national highway, they were washed away as water was released from the Larji hydroelectric power project. The bodies of all 24 students were recovered only after a month-long search operation.