Monsoon remains active in Himachal Pradesh

0

The South West Monsoon confined to many parts of Himachal Pradesh brought heavy rain overnight however it was intermittent in the day and partly cloudy.

Rainfall in past 24 hours in the state is as Dharamshala 208 mm, Palampur 104 mm, Baijnath 62 mm, Jogindernagar61 mm, Gaggal 60 mm, Mashobra 23 mm, Dalhousie 20 mm and Nahan 17 mm respectively. Landslides occurred at 150 places, including the Kiratpur-Manali and Hindustan-Tibet National Highways. Over 100 roads, including links roads were closed due to landslides in the interiors areas of Shimla, Kullu, Mandi, Sirmaur, Hamirpur and Kangra districts.

“About 100 roads were blocked mostly in rural areas and the work was going on a war footing to clear the roads and 11 JCB of the PWD, 10 hired JCB, six tractors and other machines were deployed at various sites,” said DD Sharma Special Secretary, Disaster Management.

The Kiratpur-Manali road which was blocked due to landslide near Hanogi was opened after 11 hours while the Hindustan-Tibet road which was blocked due to the blockade of Broni khud near Jhakri 150 km from Shimla was opened after more than four hours.

In Himachal the monsoon fury have so far claimed 22 lives from June 15 to July 31, while the loss to property is estimated at Rs 203.29 crore which includes loss of Rs 124.70 crore to the Public Works Department, Rs 42.86 crore to the Irrigation and Public Health Department, Rs 15.70 crore to the Horticulture Department, Rs 8 crore to the State Electricity Board and Rs 4 crore to the Agriculture Department. Further 71 heads of cattle perished, over 80 houses were totally damaged and over 210 houses suffered partial damage due to the rain.

The Met office forecast rainfall and thundershowers in many parts of the State during the next 24 hours and heavy rainfall in few parts of the mid hills.

A meeting for Mid Term Appraisal of Monsoon Season was convened in Shimla on Tuesday under the Chairmanship of Chief Secretary V.C. Pharka, Senior officers of State Government, Deputy Commissioners (DCs) and other district level officers participated via video conferencing.

V.C. Pharka informed that Rs. 42 crores have been released for immediate relief and restoration by the State Government. He stressed upon restoration of blocked roads in all the districts immediately besides strengthening response mechanism of line departments particularly PWD, IPH and Power etc. in case of any emergency situation. He also directed all the DCs for providing immediate relief to victims.

Chief Secretary directed DCs to take appropriate action for evacuation of establishments/ labour colonies/ settlements along with the river beds in low lying areas immediately. All the DCs should ensure the proper functioning of DEOCs/Control rooms 24×7, he added.

Previous articleHP Minister claims to digitize 1650212 ration cards
Next articlePatiala house court turns down the bail plea of LIC agent
Arvind Sharma is a permanent resident of Dharamshala in HP, and is an award winning bi-lingual journalist with more than 22 years of experience. He started his writing career from local weekly Himachal Kesri and later worked with Divya Himachal, Dainik Jagran, Dainik Bhaskar, Vir Partap and Ajit. Currently, he is working with news agency PTI. He was conferred with the Himachal Kesri journalism award in 2010.

No posts to display