Chief minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu on Monday decided to hand over the probe into the recent incident of logs accumulation in Pandoh Dam after cloudburst in Mandi to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID).
The decision was taken during a meeting with the state disaster management committee.
The accumulation of the forest wood in the dam late last month after cloudbursts in Kullu district had sparked a public concern after its images and videos went viral on social media. The videos and photographs of wood flushing down with the river and found floating in the Pandoh dam prompted calls for investigation.
Officials said that the state government has taken serious cognisance regarding the matter and to bring out in light the possible reasons behind the accumulation of wood in such a large quantity, the government has decided for the CID inquiry into the matter. “The first and foremost reaction to the incidents of cloudbursts and floods was to save the life of people and provide immediate relief to them wherein effective measures were underway to bring back normalcy in the flood hit regions,” officials said.
“While the government and the administration was busy helping people, the BJP made hue and cry regarding the logs without showing sensitivity and concern for the ones affected by the cloudburst and flash floods. The BJP leaders were making irresponsible statements at the time of disaster which highlights that the Opposition is highly ignorant and selective when it comes to such matters as the issues of illegal felling of trees were never inquired and no accountability was set during their tenure. Rather the ‘Van Mafia’ had clear support of the BJP and its government in its previous tenures in the state,” a state government spokesperson said.
{{/usCountry}}“While the government and the administration was busy helping people, the BJP made hue and cry regarding the logs without showing sensitivity and concern for the ones affected by the cloudburst and flash floods. The BJP leaders were making irresponsible statements at the time of disaster which highlights that the Opposition is highly ignorant and selective when it comes to such matters as the issues of illegal felling of trees were never inquired and no accountability was set during their tenure. Rather the ‘Van Mafia’ had clear support of the BJP and its government in its previous tenures in the state,” a state government spokesperson said.
{{/usCountry}}Expressing concern over the recurring natural disasters in the state, governor Shiv Pratap Shukla on Sunday had blamed rapid deforestation and had called for immediate corrective steps.
Last month, the All India Congress Committee (AICC) spokesperson and Theog MLA Kuldeep Singh Rathore raised concerns about illegal deforestation and mining after videos of tons of timber being washed away in rivers were widely shared on social media. Rathore also sought a high-level inquiry into how logs and timber were piling up in riverbeds and who was responsible for their illegal movement.
Earlier, vice chairman of HP State Forest Development Corporation Limited Kehar Singh Khachi, while addressing media in Mandi, said, “Floating logs were waste material.”