Himachal tragedy: 5 more bodies recovered from Shimla district, toll reaches 28
The death toll in the flashfloods triggered by cloudbursts in three districts of Himachal Pradesh has reached 28 now, of which only 14 have been identified so far. While four bodies were found from the Doghri area near Sunni Dam, one body was recovered from Nogli.
As rescue and relief operations in the state’s flood-hit areas entered the ninth day, five more bodies were recovered in Shimla district on Friday, officials said.
The death toll in the flashfloods triggered by cloudbursts in three districts of Himachal Pradesh has reached 28 now, of which only 14 have been identified so far. While four bodies were found from the Doghri area near Sunni Dam, one body was recovered from Nogli.
Shimla deputy commissioner (DC) Anupam Kashyap said, “Prima facie, two bodies are of men, and one is a girl’s body, which is said to be between 14 and 15 years old. Another body has been found in a mutilated condition, which is also believed to be a woman’s body.”
“The bodies will be sent to the hospital for post-mortem,” officials said, adding that the district administration of Kullu has also been informed about it.
A woman’s body was recovered in Shimla’s Nogli. Officials said that the body has been identified as Kalpana Kumari, wife of Jai Singh, who was working in the Greenko hydro project. The body is being sent to Rampur Hospital for the post-mortem examination.
Of the total, 15 bodies have been recovered from Shimla, nine from Mandi and four in Kullu district.
Over 30 people remain missing from Kullu’s Nirmand, Sainj and Malana, Mandi’s Padhar and Shimla’s Rampur subdivision, which were hit by a series of cloudbursts on the night of July 31.
Search operations are still underway at Sunni, Samej, Jhakri in Shimla and Padhar in Mandi. The worst hit was Samej village on the border of Shimla and Kullu district where about 20 people are still missing. While 60 houses were fully damaged, 35 were partially damaged in the floods triggered by the torrential rain.
Meanwhile, the family members of 30 missing people who have been camping at the sites since the tragedy struck have now lost hope and are praying for the recovery of the bodies of their loved ones so they can perform their last rites.
On Friday, chief minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu also said that during the ongoing monsoon season, the state had suffered a cumulative loss of ₹900 crore. He said that the state has not received any funds from the central government to assist the affected families.
Meanwhile, a delegation of Luhri and Sunni hydro project-affected people led by former MLA Rakesh Singha called on CM Sukhu on Friday and apprised him of their various demands.
The chief minister assured full cooperation to address their concerns and said that their demands would be considered sympathetically. He said that if the SJVNL company would not agree on the royalty percentage sought by the government, the state would acquire 210-MW Luhri Hydro Project stage-I, 66 MW Dhaulasidh Power Project and 382 MW Sunni Power Project to save the interests of the state.
While interacting with the media, the chief minister said that the jal shakti department would charge ₹100 per connection in rural areas from the well-off families who have income more than ₹50,000 and the decision would not have any impact on the poor. The state government has exempted widows, ekal naris, physically challenged persons, BPL families, orphans etc. from this charge. He said that commercial establishments would be charged as per their water consumption.