Landslide strikes Mugnial Village in Himachal’s Nurpur, leaves 6 families homeless

A devastating landslide and land subsidence have struck Mugnial village in Minjgran gram panchayat, Nurpur, leaving six families homeless due to incessant rainfall over the past few days. The disaster has caused massive cracks in residential structures, rendering them unsafe. As many as six houses and six cow sheds have been damaged, affecting six families belonging to the Schedule tribe (Gaddi) category.

This is not the first time the village has faced such a disaster. In August 2023, six families were rendered homeless due to similar land subsidence issues. The locals, panchayat pradhan, and other elected members of the gram panchayat rushed to the spot after receiving information of the landslides and land subsidence and shifted the affected families to safer places. The householdings are being temporarily relocated to the panchayat office and anganwadi kendra.

Suman Sharma, chairperson of Minjgran panchayat, said she had received information about the landslide disaster and immediately informed the administration. She warned that if timely measures are not taken by the government, the entire village may face a similar disaster in the future. According to her, the maximum inhabited area in Mugnial village has turned into a landslide-prone zone due to the fragile strata of the hill alongside the houses.

Tehsildar Nurpur Radhika Saini, who examined the damaged houses in the village, confirmed that five houses belonging to Chain Singh, Lekh Raj, Maya Devi, Raj Kumar, Sajeevan, and Burfi Ram had been damaged in the natural disaster and were unfit for habitation.

SDM Nurpur Arun Sharma said the administration had provided plastic tent sheets to the affected families as immediate relief and asked them to submit online applications along with supporting documents of the damaged houses through lok mitra kendras to avail relief under the state government's revised relief manual.

Meanwhile, three houses in Hadal panchayat in Nurpur have also been damaged due to landslides, and the families have been shifted to safer places.