Magisterial probe ordered into Dharamsala flashflood tragedy

The District Magistrate of Kangra Hemraj Bairwa has ordered a magisterial probe into the Dharamsala flashflood tragedy in which five bodies of labourers have been recovered so far. One labourer was rescued safely from the forest area.

At least, 170 labourers trapped up-stream of the rivulet that witnessed flashfloods were safely brought down on the intervening night of Wednesday and Thursday.

The labourers were working on the under-construction Manuni Hydroelectric Power Project, a sister concern of the Indira Priyadarshini Hydroelectric Power Project, coming up on the Manuni rivulet when the flashfloods struck on Wednesday evening.

Hemraj Bairwa said that the SDM will look into all facts and circumstances of the tragedy that has claimed at least eight lives, as per the details of missing persons gathered from the officials of the power company.

“We have recovered five bodies and all five have been identified, while the rest of the three bodies are yet to be recovered from the rivulet”, he said.

While giving the details, the SP of Kangra Shalini Agnihotri said that the bodies recovered from the rivulet have been identified as Chain Singh (20), son of Mulkh Raj, a resident of Kumaadi village district Doda (J&K); Aditya Thakur (24), son of Shiv Kumar, a resident of Rakh village Chamba (HP); Pardeep Verma (35), son of Rama Kant Verma, a resident of Sohanpur village Deoria (UP); Chandan Kumar (27), son of Pradeep Kumar, a resident of Sohanpur village district Deoria (UP); and Sanjay, son of Harbans Singh, a resident of Pankura village in Kangra.

She said that one Lovely Kumar (20), son of Surma Ram, a resident of Poona village in Chamba (HP) district has been safely recovered from the forests on Thursday. He ran away to the forests to save his life.

The rescue operation being conducted by the NDRF and the SDRF teams was still on to trace the three missing labourers even as intermittent rains continue to pour in the region.

“It is a challenging task for the rescue teams because of rain amid the strong current of water and difficult geographical conditions”, said Abhishek Dular, IG of the North Range, Himachal Pradesh, who also went to the spot today to supervise the rescue operation.

Himachal Tribune