5 cloudbursts within hours, Himachal CM seeks liberal help from Centre, speaks to Amit Shah, Nadda

Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu convened an emergency meeting of senior officers of the Himachal Pradesh government in Shimla on Thursday to review the situation arisen due to five cloudbursts and heavy rains in different parts of the state.

According to reports reaching the state headquarters, three cloudbursts struck the Kullu district and one each in Mandi and Shimla districts. He said that two bodies had been retrieved while more than 50 persons were still missing. He said that five roads, one national highway had also been blocked and three bridges got damaged during the last 12 hours due to cloud burst and heavy rains.

The Chief Minister said that the most affected site was Samej area of Jhakri in Shimla district where residential area had also been affected due to cloud burst and around 36 persons were missing whereas one road had also been blocked.

In Mandi district, the cloud burst occurred near Tikkan Thalukot village of Padhar tehsil where about seven persons were reported missing and two bodies had been retrieved while three houses were also damaged.

He said that in Kullu district, the cloud burst hit village Jaon in Nirmand Tehsil where seven persons were missing and nine houses were washed away besides causing damage to two bridges.

The incidents of cloud bursts also took place in the upper reaches resulting in a rise in water level in Pin Parvati river and one bus was washed away. Another incident took place at Malana sub-tehsil Jari of district Kullu causing damage to Malana bridge and nine persons were stranded along the Beas river near Malana. Efforts were on to rescue these people, said the Chief Minister.

Sukhvinder Sukhu said that saving valuable human lives was the top priority at the moment and all government machinery would focus on this task. He directed the district administrations to provide immediate relief to the affected families and construct bailey bridges so that people in the affected areas did not face any inconvenience.

He said that the state government would also make available five transport drones to enable the police to carry out transportation activities in the affected areas. The Satellite phone was also being provided at SDM level so that the communication system could be strengthened.

He said that 50 generators would also be supplied to Police Stations and Police Posts to ensure power back up. The state government would make all out efforts to ensure the safety of life and properties of the people.

The Chief Minister said that the metrological department had forecast heavy rains till Friday morning. He urged the people to adopt precautionary measures during these hours and avoid going near the rivulets and rivers.

He said that the State Disaster Response Force was being strengthened and equipped to tackle any natural calamity.

The Chief Minister said that state emergency operation centres had also been set up at 13 places in the state for disaster monitoring and these would be operational round-the-clock.

He expressed deep grief over the death of several innocent lives in this disaster and said that the state government was standing shoulder to shoulder with the bereaved and affected families in this hour of distress.

Thakur Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu also spoke over phone to Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, Union Health Minister JP Nadda, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and senior Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi and apprised them of the situation arisen due to cloudbursts and heavy rains in the state.

He urged the Central Government to provide liberal assistance to tackle this alarming situation.

Revenue Minister Jagat Singh Negi, Chief Secretary Prabodh Saxena, Additional Chief Secretary Onkar Chand Sharma, Secretary to Chief Minister Rakesh Kanwar, Director General of Police Atul Verma, Special Secretary Revenue D.C. Rana and Engineer-in-Chief PWD NP Singh also attended the meeting.