Kotrupi landslip victims await pucca houses

Dipender Manta

Tribune News Service

Mandi, June 17

Families of Kotrupi village here whose houses were damaged following a massive landslide on the Mandi-Pathankot National Highway-154 in August last year are still awaiting rehabilitation.

At least 46 persons were killed in the tragedy. The mudslide swallowed a 150-metre stretch of the road, homes and vehicles, including two buses that had stopped at a kiosk for refreshments.

Although the government has provided temporary shelter to the affected families, nearly 10 months have passed and it is yet to identify land for their permanent rehabilitation.

Sources said temporary shelters provided to these families were not sufficient and eight to 10 members of one family were being forced to live in a single room.

The heads of these families said they had taken up the issue with Rekha, gram panchayat pradhan, and urged her to further raise the matter with the state government.

Rekha said they had submitted a memorandum to the district administration and the state government seeking financial assistance and allotment of land for the affected families.

Rugved Thakur, DC, Mandi, said since most of the land in the district was under the Forest Department, it could not be allotted for rehabilitation. “I have brought the matter to the notice of the state government and action will be taken only after its directions,” he added.

46 killed in August 2017

Forty-six people were killed after a massive landslide buried two Himachal Pradesh roadways buses at Kotrupi in Mandi district on the Mandi-Pathankot national highway on August 13, 2017. The buses had stopped for tea around midnight at a roadside stall at Kotrupi near Padder in Mandi district when the landslide struck. Some private vehicles and several houses were swept away in the landslide. Locals vacated their homes and ran towards the forest area minutes before the landslide.