The Hindu : Himachal cloudburst: bodies yet to be recovered

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Jul 18, 2003

Front Page

Front Page

Himachal cloudburst: bodies yet to be recovered

By Kanwar Yogendra

Reuters

A man walking on a wooden plank over the flood waters caused by a cloudburst on Wednesday in an area in Kullu district of Himachal Pradesh on Thursday.

Shimla July 17. The district administration at Kullu, despite its earlier claims, has not recovered even a single dead body from the place of the cloudburst disaster on Wednesday.

About 40 persons died and 35 injured in the severe flash floods that followed the cloudburst.

The continuous rain and the absence of local pressure, since the majority of those killed were Nepalese labourers, has slowed down the rescue operations. Unofficial sources are still sticking to a casualty figure of 150 to 200. The water at some places had gone up by 30 to 35 feet, some of the survivors said. The sleeping migrant labourers got washed away with no traces of their habitations.

The machinery and vehicles required for the digging operation could not reach the spot even by this evening.

More than 5,000 houses were destroyed and a number of roads and bridges were washed away.

There were no losses reported from the nearby villages of Manihar and Nanja where the Kullu locals are residing.

Meanwhile, the Chief Minister, Virbhadra Singh, whose visit to Kullu was cancelled due to bad weather made a statement in the Assembly that relief and rehabilitation work was being carried out.

Labourers crossing the flood waters at Shillagarh village in Kullu district of Himachal Pradesh on Thursday, following a cloudburst which killed many on Wednesday.

He said a number of workers at the site escaped, according to some contractors and the toll might not be too high.

Such cloudbursts are not new in Himachal and only three years ago about 140 persons died when flash floods occurred in the river Satluj in Kinnaur district.

A similar tragedy had happened in the Chirgaon area of upper Shimla and a number of times such incidents have occurred in Manali and other higher reaches of the State.

The majority of the victims are migrant workers from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Orrisa brought to the hydel projects by petty contractors working for construction companies.

Our New Delhi Special Correspondent reports:

The Congress president, Sonia Gandhi has expressed deep anguish and grief at the loss of lives in the Kullu cloudburst. She urged the Chief Minister to compensate the survivors and the bereaved families, an AICC release said today.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Front Page

Stories in this Section

Opposition gearing to take on Govt. in Parliament

Nitish resumes work

Shimla pact still relevant: Fazlur Rehman

Vikram Seth strikes it rich

Package for cane growers of 3 States

Pandya instigated the mob, alleges witness

New RBI Governor

Himachal cloudburst: bodies yet to be recovered

Third Gujarati to win Jnanpith

Ambanis exempted

Goods train derails