Union Minister of Information and Broadcasting and Hamirpur MP, Anurag Thakur on Tuesday visited rain-affected villages in this district of Himachal Pradesh and took stock of the situation in the area.
He enquired about the loss caused to houses, roads and fields amid heavy rains and assured the affected people of adequate relief. Thakur added that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was also closely monitoring the situation. The Information and Broadcasting Minister later left for the Dehra sub-division of the Kangra district to monitor the flood situation there.
Normal life has taken a hit following heavy rains in the district since Monday night, as the water level in the river Beas and its tributaries continues to rise. Officials said attendance in schools in most places was thin as parents preferred not to send their wards to schools due to the weather conditions in the area. Reports also said that road traffic has come to a grinding halt at many places and people are forced to move from one place to another barefoot.
Rains lashed parts of Himachal Pradesh on Tuesday and the meteorological office here issued a red alert predicting heavy to very heavy rainfall with isolated spells of “extremely heavy” rains in eight of its 12 districts during the night. The warning was issued in the evening for parts of Bilaspur, Hamirpur, Kullu, Mandi, Shimla, Solan, Sirmaur and Una districts as rains on Tuesday triggered some landslides in Mandi and uprooted trees in other areas. No casualties were reported in this fresh bout of rain. Earlier this month, about 80 people died in rain-related incidents, including major landslides in Shimla. The Met also issued an orange alert warning of “heavy to very heavy rains” on Wednesday and Thursday and a yellow warning of heavy rain on 25 and 26 August. It has predicted a wet spell in the state till 28 August.
“So far, Hamirpur district has suffered a loss of Rs 419 crore during the current monsoon season (since 24 June) and 16 people have died,” Hamirpur Deputy Commissioner, Hemraj Bairwa said.
A spokesperson of the district administration appealed to the people not to venture out during the rains and refrain from going towards the River Beas.
Himachal Pradesh has received six per cent deficit rainfall in August so far. The seasonal rainfall was 752.1 mm against the normal rainfall of 550.4 mm, an excess of 36 percent.
