Year ender: Himachal witnesses worst monsoon tragedies

Shimla: Himachal Pradesh saw one of the worst monsoon tragedies –an unprecedented havoc resulting in loss of 450 lives and property including road infrastructure and residential houses worth Rs 12,000 crores damaged during 2023.

Not before this the state has seen such a fury of the natural calamities, landslides, relentless rains, floods and cloud-bursts in a single year posing a challenge to the Congress government to organise relief and rehabilitation measures for thousands of families rendered homeless and landless Houses.The collapsed houses and cowsheds have not been rebuilt yet as families continue to live in temporary shelters even as winters have made the condition difficult for them.

Kullu-Manali, the tourists’ hub of Himachal Pradesh was badly hit as swollen Beas river washed away primary connectivity –the national highway between Kullu and Manali. The hotel industry was affected adversely resulting in massive economic loss to the families engaged in the business as also been a source of livelihood and jobs.Due to severe floods in Beas and Parvati rivers, there was huge damage in Manali, Parla Bhuntar, Manikaran and Sainj. In Kullu, 565 houses were damaged by the disaster, 2,439 houses were partially damaged. 559 cowsheds, 570 commercial premises, 1850 bighas of land suitable for agriculture and horticulture were washed away. At seven places from Kullu to Palchan, 200 to 700 meters of highway was lost. The state government projected a loss of over Rs 12,000 crores and also submitted a report to the centre seeking special financial package and declaring the situation in the state as national calamity.

Barring financial help due to the state under the National Disaster Relief Fund ,the centre did not grant any special relief though BJP National President J P Nadda and Union minister for Information and Broadcasting Anurag Singh Thakur visited the state and went to the flood and rain hit places.Nevertheless, the state government announced a Rs 4,500 crore relief and rehabilitation package from its own resources as thousands of people also contributed liberally to the relief fund.

Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu has distributed cheques worth crores of rupees as relief money to the disaster affected people in Bilaspur, Mandi, Una, Hamirpur, Kangra and Solan. The most heart-rending tragedy was witnessed on August 14 at the Shiv Bawadi temple in Summerhill area of the capital Shimla. Twenty people including six members of a single family died in the tragedy. The operation to pull out bodies from the debris continued for 11 days. The Kalka-Shimla Heritage Railway Line bridge below the Advanced Study also became a victim of this tragedy.

Due to this, train movement remained closed for about two months.

Movement of people was badly affected as Kalka-Shimla National Highway was closed near Chakkimod due to five landslides. People had to travel two kilometers even to cross on foot. Milk supply from Punjab and Chandigarh was affected. During the season, it became difficult to deliver apples to the markets of outside states. Oil tankers and trucks remained stranded for several days.

Heavy rains caused massive damage to apple orchards in Shimla, Mandi and Kullu districts due to landslides. Thousands of apple fruit trees were uprooted. More than 1,500 plants were uprooted in Kumarsain of Shimla district. Thousands of apple plants were also damaged in Theog, Kotkhai, Jubbal, Rohru and Chirgaon.

Five members of a family died after being buried under the debris due to a cloud burst on the night of August 9 in Sirmour Tal of Paonta Sahib sub-division. Grandfather, grandmother, granddaughter, grandson and daughter-in-law died in the accident. In the family of six, only the son was left, who was at some distance from the house at the time of the incident.

On political fronts, the state did not see major upheavals even as opposition BJP had been trying to pin down the government on failure of implement 10 guarantees it has made in the elections of which promise to grant Rs 1,500 pm to women, free power up to 300 units ,one lakh jobs and purchase of cow dung remains unfulfilled.

Towards end of the year, Chief Minister expanded his cabinet and inducted two cabinet ministers but the portfolio allocations remains to be made.