Palampur cut off from rest of state

Ravinder Sood

Palampur, August 14

The unprecedented heavy rains for the past 60 hours have completely paralysed normal life in Palampur, Baijnath and Jaisinghpur area of Kangra district.

A vehicle carrying newspapers to Kangra from Una was crushed under boulders near Ranital in the early hours of today. Praveen Kumar, caretaker of the newspapers, was killed on the spot. There was regular sliding of hills near the accident site because of four-laning work on the road.

Palampur has been cut off from the rest of the state as all roads connecting Palampur are blocked because of heavy landslides and flash floods. The Palampur-Kangra-Una highway has been blocked at more than 10 points because of heavy landslides. Likewise, the Palampur-Mandi-Manali highway has also been closed. The Palampur-Hamirpur highway is closed near Alampur and Thural.

The administration has banned the entry of vehicles at Sujanpur Bridge as the Beas was flowing above the danger mark. The road between Bir and Billing was also closed following landslides at many points. No tourists were allowed to visit Billing. The traffic to Chhota Bhangal was also suspended.

Over 100 houses have been damaged in different areas of Palampur, Baijnath and Jaisinghpur. Number of drinking water supply schemes suffered heavy damage and many areas were without water. Many towns and villages were still without power because of uprooting of heavy trees. Local rivers and rivulets are flowing above the danger mark.