Houses damaged, 5 families forced to live in tents at Kullu

Abhinav Vashisht

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Kullu, July 28

As many as 36 members of five families are forced to live in tents after their houses were completely damaged in a cloudburst in the Pancha nullah in the Gadsa valley of Kullu district on July 25. Fifteen houses suffered partial damage in the incident. The families also lost all their belongings.

The victims said that Tuesday’s flashfloods in the Beas rendered them homeless. “We had built houses by working hard and saving every rupee but everything perished in one go,” an affected family member added.

Liaquat Ali, a resident of Bahuguna village, said, “Around 4 am on Tuesday, there was a loud bang. Sunil Kumar, a resident of Parli panchayat, informed me over phone that a cloudburst had occurred somewhere in the hills. Due to the cloudburst, there were flashfloods in the Pancha nullah.”

He said that Sunil advised them to vacate their house. “I woke up my family members and neighbours and tried to take out goods from the house. Suddenly, there were flashfloods in the nullah and as soon as we came out of the house, it was inundated. We could not save anything except clothes we were wearing,” he added.

Ali said that four other houses were also flooded. “The district administration has given us some relief. I had to even borrow a pair of sleepers. Thanks God, there was no loss of life,” he added.

He said that it was a dreadful day and they lost everything but hope. “We are living in tents and don’t know whether we will be able to build houses again. We request the government to help us so that we can again lead a normal life,” he added.

Gadkari to inspect Manali NH on Aug 4

• Nitin Gadkari, Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways, is scheduled to visit Mandi and Kullu districts on August 4
• The Union Minister will inspect the Kiratpur-Manali highway, which was damaged by the flooded Beas on July 9 and 10, said former Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur on Friday
• Around 16 km of the road stretch was damaged between Mandi and Manali by the flooded Beas
• Gadkari is likely to give necessary directions to the NHAI to restore the highway at the earliest