Thaindian News

Shimla, Sep 10 (IANS) Monsoon rains have claimed 39 lives in Himachal Pradesh and the damage to property is estimated at Rs.355.29 crore, a government spokesman said Saturday.

The maximum loss of Rs.74.10 crore was reported in Kangra district, followed by Kullu district Rs.7.56 crore, he said.

As many as 3,811 houses and crops worth Rs.103.80 crore were damaged. The loss to public properties came to Rs.251.49 crore.

A revenue department official said Rs.41.23 crore had been released for starting restoration work.

According to the Met office here, the rains, which were normal in June and deficient in July, were vigorously active in August and September.

Torrential rain Aug 12 washed away a pillar of a railway bridge at Chakki village in Kangra district, leading to the collapse of a span on the Pathankot-Jogindernagar narrow gauge rail line. Rail services have been disrupted since then.

A senior railway official said that repair work is on but it will take more than six months to make the bridge fully operational.

A record 342 mm of rain within 24 hours was recorded in Una town Aug 13, flooding low-lying areas. This has been the highest rainfall in the town since 1988.

The Chandigarh-Manali National Highway-21 was affected a number of times this monsoon due to massive landslides.

Four people were killed and 22 injured in a cloudburst in upper Manali July 20.

Twelve passengers were killed when a mini-bus rolled down a hill and plunged into a rivulet in Chamba district Aug 10.

The private bus carrying around 15 people was going from Tissa, some 65 km from Chamba town, towards Dalhousie.

“The bus had covered just around 10 km from Tissa when it skidded off the road and fell into a flooded rivulet near Tissa bridge in Churah subdivision,” Superintendent of Police Madhu Sudan said.

Twelve bodies have been fished out of the swollen rivulet.

The reservoir of the Pong earthen dam on the Beas river, bordering Punjab, is also filled to capacity. Its floodgates were opened a number of times to release extra flows, resulting in flood-like situation downstream.

The Manali-Rohtang National Highway-21 remained vulnerable near Rani Nullah due to frequent landslides.

Traffic on all the major roads in the interiors of Shimla, Kinnaur, Chamba, Mandi and Sirmaur districts remained disrupted in the past three months.

Public Works Minister Gulab Singh Thakur told IANS this season the monsoon onset was quite early.

“The last winter set in early and extended. This time monsoon was also came quite early, so repair work of roads and bridges damaged in the last year’s monsoon was not carried out properly. Now the repairs will be carried out soon after the monsoon is over,” he added.