Among the many six killed after a tree fell following a landslide close to the gurdwara at Manikaran in Himachal had been three college students from Haryana’s Hisar who had stopped for a Maggi break. A minimum of six others had been injured within the mishap.
Kullu MLA Sunder Singh Thakur meets kin of locals injured within the Manikaran accident, on Monday. (Aqil Khan /HT)
The three deceased, Dhinta, Manish and Gulshan, had been a part of a bunch of 17 college students from Haryana Faculty of Digital Advertising (HSDM), a training institute in Hisar, who had come on a visit.
Manish hailed from Tara Nagar in Hisar, Gulshan from Dhana Khurd village in Hansi and Dhinta hailed from Bareilly in Uttar Pradesh and learning at Om College in Hisar. One other pupil, Prachi, a resident of Sector 14 in Hisar, sustained accidents and has been admitted to the Kullu district hospital.
Gulshan’s mother and father are nonetheless unaware of the tragedy. His elder brother and cousin left for Manikaran after getting details about the mishap. One in all Gulshan’s family members stated his mother and father had suggested him to not go on the journey as a marriage is scheduled within the household on April 14.
HSDM director Dinesh Jangra stated 17 college students had gone on a visit to Himachal on March 28 they usually had been anticipated to return on March 30.
Himachal police stated the our bodies had been handed over to the victims’ kin after postmortem.
Encroachers on stretch a risk
The general public works division (PWD) highway reverse the gurdwara, the place the accidents occurred, is stuffed with encroachments. District authorities say they received the stretch cleared in January, eradicating 42 unlawful distributors. Nonetheless, they quickly re-occupied the world.
“We will carry out a drive again to remove these vendors. We have regularly been removing vendors from areas prone to disasters,” stated sub-divisional Justice of the Peace (SDM) Vikas Shukla.
A current examine carried out by the Indian Institute of Expertise (IIT), Ropar, stated 49% of Himachal is vulnerable to medium-risk and 40% to high-risk landslides, floods and avalanches. Kullu was discovered to be among the many districts vulnerable to landslides.
“It comes under Special Area Development Authority (SADA). Locals open the vends on roadside and sublet them to outsiders, posing threat to life and safety,” stated Kullu MLA Sunder Singh Thakur.
“I have asked the district administration to remove the encroachments,” he added, expressing displeasure at encroachers organising vends on roadside.
“We are pressing for developing vending zones, parking areas and basic amenities. The government had provided food vans and now, we will work towards identifying areas where they can be set up without compromising safety and quality of food,” the MLA added.