Rain fury claims 22 lives in Kangra

Tribune News Service

Lalit Mohan

Dharamsala, August 22

Heavy rain has caused extensive damage to public and private property in Kangra district, especially on August 20. As per the data compiled by the district administration, 22 people have died during the ongoing monsoon season since June 25 mainly in accidents, landslides, house collapse and due to snakebite.

On August 20, the district received the heaviest rainfall of the season. Ayush (9), a resident of Gorda in the Shahpur Assembly constituency, was killed after his kucha house collapsed due to heavy rain. Ayush’s father Naseeb Singh had many times applied for government grant to build a pucca house but in vain. On the fateful day, his kucha house collapsed, killing his son.

In another such incident, Balmukand, a migrant labourer from Uttar Pradesh, was killed after the wall of the kucha house he was living in Jaisinghpur collapsed over him.

The damage to the property (roads and bridges) of the Public Works Department (PWD) in Kangra district till date has been pegged at Rs 128 crore. As many as 1,634 water and irrigation schemes of the Jal Shakti Department have been damaged due flash floods and landslides, causing a loss of Rs 121.66 crore. Property worth Rs 1.17 crore of HPSEBL has also been damaged.

One pucca house has been damaged completely while nine houses have been partially damaged. While 24 kucha houses have been damaged completely, 83 have suffered partial damage. Besides, five shops and 98 cowsheds have also been damaged.

A railway bridge over the Chaki river in Nurpur collapsed and as a result, train services to Kangra will be disrupted for at least a year.

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