SHIMLA: Sixteen people died including four of family and 923 roads including six national highways, including the Chandigarh-Shimla Highway, were closed due to heavy rains in Himachal Pradesh.
The Kalka-Shimla railway track too was closed at various places due to landslides.
Also, water is being released from the Pandoh Dam in Mandi.
Five people were buried alive at Lamsar village in Kandaghat sub-division in Solan district after a landslide rammed two houses.
The dead have been identified as 30-year old Devinder, his wife Poonam (28) and their four-year-old son and seven-year-old daughter.
Three people were reportedly killed in Mandi district due to landslides.
A schoolboy from Rani village near Parwanoo, accompanied by his grandfather slipped and fell into the swollen Kaushalya river and is feared to have been washed away.
Besides the Chandigarh-Shimla- highway which was closed due to landslides at on the Parwanoo-Solan stretch and at near Chakki Ka Mor, the Mandi-Kullu highway was also blocked near Blueli and the Mandi-Pathankot highway was shut at several places due to landslides.
Also the alternative route of the Mandi-Pathankot highway was blocked. The Chamba-Pathankot national highway was blocked at Panjpula. Also many roads in the interiors of Shimla district and Chamba district have been closed due to landslides.
A portion of a bridge was damaged due to heavy rain in Hamirpur district. The Sangla valley in Kinnaur district was cut off from the rest of the state as the Karcham-Sangla road, the vital link to the valley was blocked due to landslides.
Rispa bridge in Kinnaur was washed away due to heavy rains. The district administration is trying to restore movement by setting up a span bridge. All trains on the Kalka-Shimla route have been suspended till further orders due to several landslides on the track.
While Shimla had 172.6 mm of rain, highest during the season, Jubbarhatti received 146.2 mm, followed by Jwali with 136 mm, Kasauli 134 mm, Bharwain119 mm, Solan 110 mm of rain. A warning has been issued to the public living in low-lying areas near the Beas River not to go near the river as water is being released from the Pandoh Dam in Mandi district of the hill state.
Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB) have been releasing the water from Pandoh Dam in view of the alarming situation of the silt in the reservoir as heavy rain has caused huge inflow in Beas River. The outflow would increase gradually and the release of water from the dam would continue. Kangra Deputy Commissioner Sandeep Kumar said residents can call 1077 in case of an emergency.
The state government has released Rs. 96.50 crore for relief and rescue operation in the state following losses to human life and the property due to heavy rainfall during the last twenty-four hours. Chief Secretary Vineet Chawdhry disclosed this while presiding over a review meeting here today on damages caused due to rains in the state in which all the Deputy Commissioners participated through video conference.
He said the state government has so far released Rs. 229 crores since April 1 and more funds would be released as per the requirement of the districts. He said that as per the information received at the state headquarters, 16 casualties have been reported so far from various districts including one each in Bilaspur and Una districts, two in Hamirpur, four in Mandi and eight in Solan district.
He said an interim relief has been distributed by the district administration to the affected families. He directed the Deputy Commissioners to keep the educational institutes closed on August 14 for the safety of the students keeping in view the prediction of bad weather.
He also directed the Deputy Commissioners to ensure that no tourist or local person go along river banks and also keeping a close vigil on tracking activities. He said that adequate men and machinery had been deployed to restore the roads, water and electricity supply and funds have been released to Deputy Commissioners and concerned departments and there was no shortage of essential commodities in any part of the state.
Additional Chief Secretary, Revenue and PWD Manisha Nanda said that 923 roads were closed due to landslides in the state including six national highways and the department has deployed machinery to make these roads through as soon as possible. She said adequate funds were available for rescue and relied on the measure and the Deputy Commissioners can hire the local machinery, if required for clearing the roads and other restoration works.
Deputy Commissioner, Kullu informed that the Manali national highway was blocked due to constant landslides and efforts were on to clear the road on war footings. In Kangra district, traffic was affected on 85 roads and most of these would be cleared by Monday evening. Pathankot-Mandi road has been cleared for light vehicles and the people stranded in Lambagaon were being rescued by the administration.
Deputy Commissioner Shimla informed that traffic movement has been brought back to normalcy in the Shimla town and electricity supply would also be restored in all the areas by Monday evening. In Hamirpur district, two casualties were reported in Bhoranj area due to landslips.
The DC informed that 50 roads have been reopened for traffic and remaining 13 roads would be restored by tomorrow. Deputy Commissioner Solan informed that eight casualties have been reported in Solan district. In all, 102 roads have been damaged in the district out of which traffic has been restored on 62 roads.
The Kumarhatti-Nahan road has also been reopened for light vehicles. In Bilaspur district, Swarghat national highway and Bilaspur-Shimla road has also been made through for traffic while the work on restoring the interior roads was on progress.
In Kinnaur district, Maling Nallah and Skibba roads have been restored and the road to Sangla valley would also be made through by today evening where few tourists are stranded. In Lahaul-Spiti district, Sumdo-Kaza-Gramphu road is blocked due to landslide and Meling-Kaza road has been restored.
One casualty has been reported in Mandi district and the vehicular traffic has been suspended as water approached to the main road near Hanogi on national highway-21.