Pangi Valley cut off after floods; locals seek airlift of stranded people

The remote and isolated Pangi Valley has also suffered extensive damage to its road and communication network during the heavy rains that battered Chamba district last week.

Pangi’s Officiating Resident Raman Gharsangi said that continuous downpours had severely disrupted telecommunication services in the region, mainly due to problems with the optical fiber cable coming from Jammu and Kashmir.

The internet and telecom services could be revived by August 30 evening after remaining down since August 26.

“The valley has sustained heavy damage, including to the Bailey bridge at Dharwas Nallah, the Mahalu Nallah road, Siddh Mandir road and Sanchu Jot Road,” he said.

Directions have already been issued to the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) and the Public Works Department (PWD), the Resident Commissioner said, to ensure urgent restoration of these routes, and road clearance is being carried out on a war footing.

Communication services have also been restored, bringing communication back to normalcy, Gharsangi said. He further noted that inspection of the affected areas revealed that the valley’s lifeline road—Sansari Nallah, Kilaar–Thirot–Tandi (SKTT)—had been extensively damaged, while several other roads and bridges were also rendered unusable.

Due to the communication network remaining cut off, the losses to the roads, bridges, water schemes and public and private property could not be reported earlier, he said.

While no casualties have been reported so far, damage has been widespread. Bridges and culverts such as Dharwas Bridge, Parghwal Nullah, Mahalu Nallah, and Siddh Mandir roads have been hit badly, while on the Udaipur side, Dared Nullah, Dhandhal Nullah and Jungle Camp Nullah stretches have also suffered serious damage.

BRO Officer Commanding Major Paras informed that the road between Udaipur and Tindi Jungle Camp was reopened by August 30, and further work toward Killar was progressing, with additional machinery deployed to restore the damaged stretches.

Meanwhile, Trilok Thakur, chairman of Pangwal Ekta Manch, a forum of Pangi people, said that several people of Pangi have been stranded at Udaipur in Lahaul-Spiti side and at Bariagarh in Churah side. He appealed to the state government for urgent intervention. “The Sansari Nallah–Killar–Thirot–Tandi road must be reopened for traffic without delay, besides all the link roads must while drinking water schemes and electricity supply must be repaired at the earliest.

Thakur said that until the road connectivity is fully restored, the Pangwal Ekta Manch, demands the government should requisition Indian Air Force to deploy its large helicopters to evacuate stranded people from Udaipur and Bairagarh to Killar, along with facilitating patients and other urgent cases requiring immediate travel out of the valley.

He also pressed for emergency medical supplies to be air-dropped if needed and called for a special inspection team to be appointed to survey the extent of the damage.