7 dead as boulder rips apart Manikaran serai

Dushyant S Pundir, Abhinav Vashisht & Sushil Goyal

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Manikaran/Sangrur, Aug 18

Seven pilgrims were killed and 11 others were injured when a boulder tore through a serai at Gurdwara Manikaran Sahib in Kullu district today. All 18 pilgrims belonged to Rogla village of Sangrur district in Punjab.

The tragedy could have been bigger as 300 people were inside the eight-storey building when the boulder from a hill fell on it around 1.50 pm today. The two rooms of the building’s top floor, where the victims were staying, were totally damaged said gurdwara in charge Baba Shri Ramji. Eyewitnesses said around 14 rooms of the building were badly damaged. Sevadars of the gurdwara and locals rushed to the spot and pulled out the injured from the rubble and rushed them to the Regional Hospital at Kullu. Two of the critically wounded were referred to PGI, Chandigarh.

Kullu Sub-Divisional Magistrate Rohit Rathore said a team of the NDRF, SSB and ITBP rushed to the spot to start a rescue operation. The building had been sealed and all pilgrims had been evacuated from it, said Rathore. Kullu Deputy Commissioner Rakesh Kanwar said an interim relief had been provided to the victims. 

Sangrur Deputy Commissioner Arshdeep Singh Thind said the district administration was in contact with the Kullu authorities and had sent Dirba Naib Tehsildar Parbodh Chander and two policemen to Kullu to help the victims. Thind said the Kullu DC had assured him of making early arrangements to send the bodies to Rogla village. 

Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal has announced Rs 1 lakh ex gratia each to the next of kin of the deceased and Rs 25,000 for the seriously wounded. A 24X7 control room (0172-2740859 and 0172-2740397) has been set up at the Punjab Civil Secretariat in Chandigarh to review the situation.