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Operation to rescue 300 tourists at HP’s Chandertal in final leg
The Himachal government accelerated operations to rescue hundreds of tourists as the rescue team was on its way to Chandertal lake for evacuation
SHIMLA Even as the rains in Himachal relented, the government accelerated operations to rescue hundreds of tourists as the rescue team was 12 kilometres away from the 300 persons stuck upon the snowbound Chandertal lake in Spiti while more than 2,000 tourists are stranded in Kinnaur’s scenic Sangla valley.
“So far 2,000 people stranded in the Kasol area of Kullu district have been evacuated. On the way at one point named Dunkhara, there is a heavy landslide and one porcelain and two machines have been deployed round the clock to clear the Kasol hunter road. A team of the district administration has reached Kasol,” said chief minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu.
More than 5,600 vehicles have passed through Kullu from Manali so far and food is being distributed to them at Ramshilla Chowk, said Satwant Atwan Trivedi officiating director general of police. “ There are 500 persons who have been stranded in a different location in the Pagal nullah and Darcha. “All of them have been rescued as many as 150 vehicles passed through the Atal Tunnel via Telling village even as the main road near Sissu is broken,” he said adding that the 13 more bodies were found in Kullu alone in the rivulets, Nullahs.
The Shimla-Kalka highway which was blocked near Chakki Morh and was thrown open for traffic on Wednesday normalising the supply of daily commodities. “There is no exact count of the people stranded across the state but no efforts are being left we have requisitioned one more chopper from the air force to airlift the sick tourist,” said DC Rana director of State Disaster Management Authority .
Police set up war room
The police set up a war room to contact the those stranded and their families at the police headquarter. “So far we have been able to contact more than 1,100 families,” said additional director general of police( Law and Order) Abhishek Trivedi, adding that communication networks have not been restored in many parts of the state. “ We are finding it difficult to trace the missing persons,” he said.
CM Sukhu conducted an aerial survey of the districts of Kullu, Mandi, and Lahaul-Spiti on Wednesday to assess the damage caused by relentless rains triggering floods and landslides during the last three days. The CM visited various affected areas, including Bhuntar, Sainj, Kasol, Kheerganga and Kullu districts.
Arterial roads blocked
A total of 873 roads were blocked which included the national highway 21 mandi to Kuluu, NH505 which connects Gramphu to the locar. State highway SKTT road from Tandi to Kadhu nullah, NH03 Kullu to Manali was also blocked, National Highway 305 connecting aut to jalori was also blocked NH 707 connecting Shillai was also blocked. Mandi and Kullu Shimla, Sirmaur and Lahual Spiti are the worst affected due to monsoon fury.
As many as 350 lateral and main roads were blocked for traffic in Shimla district, Sirmaur 109, Mandi 100, Lahual and Spiti 97. Monsoon rains have also affected 1,369 water supply schemes with maximum damage in Shimla district where 373 water supply schemes are damaged. Shimla town went without water for the sixth consecutive day on Wednesday even though there was a slight improvement in the turbidity level while allowing SJPNL to draw 16 MLD of water. About 317 water supply schemes were damaged in Solan, while 1,956 electricity lines were disrupted across the state as many 619 lines were disrupted in Solan , and 380 in Shimla so far 27 people have died in the last three days in rain-related incidents.
