Weather News: Heavy Rain Warning in Himachal from August 22-24, Nadda Assures Govt Relief

Former deputy mayor of Shimla Municipal Corporation Tikendar Panwar on Sunday sat on a 24-hour hunger strike and urged introspection on Himachal Pradesh’s development model in view of the recent rain-related devastation in the state.

Panwar demanded an inquiry commission on the matter to be headed by a retired judge of the Supreme Court to assess the flood-related damages and design a new policy framework to counter it.

The Centre is concerned over the grave situation in rain-battered Himachal Pradesh and all efforts would be made to rehabilitate displaced persons, BJP president J P Nadda said on Sunday.

“I am pained to see the devastation and loss of human lives and assure all help for rehabilitation of displaced persons,” the BJP president, who started his visit to flood and rain-hit areas of the state from Paonta Sahib in Sirmaur, said after meeting a family which lost five members in flash floods on August 10.

Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has approved release of Rs 200 crore, as advance from National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF), to Govt of Himachal Pradesh, to help them undertake relief measures for affected people during current Monsoon season, an official release said.

BJP National president JP Nadda along with Union Minister Anurag Thakur and former Himachal CM Jairam Thakur arrived in rain-ravaged Shimla today to take stock of the situation.

The death toll in Monday’s temple collapse incident due to landslide in Shimla climbed to 17 on Sunday. Search teams recovered one more body on Sunday, the seventh day of rescue operation.

According to a PTI report, a landslide in the outer lawns of the Viceregal Lodge has raised concern about the safety of the 149-year old historic building of the Indian Institute of Advanced Study (IIAS) in Shimla.

Cracks have developed in some portion of building and preventative steps have been taken. There is no danger to the historic building, Deputy Commissioner, Shimla, Aditya Negi was quoted by PTI as saying.

“Today is the 7th day of the search and rescue operation in Shimla. We have recovered 17 bodies and we are searching for other three victims. Teams of SDRF, NDRF and Indian Army are present at the spot. We are putting in our best efforts & hoping to retrieve the other victims,” said Roop Sharan, NDRF Inspector.

The road near Tayya Pul Govindghat on Badrinath National Highwaywas blocked due to debris in the aftermath of a landslide in Uttarakhand.

A search and rescue operation continued for the seventh day after heavy rainfall caused severe damage of life and property in Himachal Pradesh’s Shimla.

Himachal Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Mukesh Agnihotri on Saturday said the state government has urged the Centre to declare the tragedy a national disaster, adding that the recent natural calamity the state has seen is the most devastating in the past 50 years.

Quoting Superintendent, Shimla, Sanjeev Kumar Gandhi, a PTI report said drones are being used for identification of high-risk zones and monitoring of sliding sites in the city.

The local Met office cautioned of moderate to high risk of flash floods in Shimla, Sirmaur and Chamba districts of Himachal Pradesh.

Local Met office has issued an Orange alert for several parts of Himachal Pradesh over the next two days. The weather agency also issued a yellow alert warning of heavy rains in the state on August 22 and 23.

The Himachal Pradesh government on Friday declared the state a “Natural Calamity Affected Area” in view of the massive damage caused by heavy rains.

The death toll in rain-related incidents in Himachal Pradesh over the past week rose to 78 on Saturday. Another body was recovered from the debris of a collapsed temple in Shimla yesterday.