Vikramaditya visits disaster-hit Mandi areas

Public Works Department (PWD) Minister Vikramaditya Singh today visited several disaster-affected areas of Mandi city, including the Jail road, to assess the damage caused and ensure timely relief efforts.

Vikramaditya, who visited the city on the directions of Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, inspected several severely-affected localities, including Ward No. 5 (Jail road and Palace area), Zonal Hospital road, Kalyan Dham and Sain Mohalla. He interacted with the affected families, offered condolences to them and assured them of all possible support from the state government during this difficult time.

He expressed grief over the loss of three lives and damage to 22 to 25 houses in the rain disaster. “The state government stands firmly with the affected families and will extend every necessary assistance to help them recover,” he added.

The minister said that the relief and rehabilitation work was being carried out on a war footing. He added that landslides triggered by heavy rain blocked several key roads after large boulders and debrisf fell on them. To clear these routes, controlled blasting using robo machines would be deployed to ensure the safety of residents and commuters. He said that proactive disaster preparedness was now the top priority. A comprehensive roadmap was being prepared in collaboration with the Central Government for the installation of AI-based early warning systems to enable timely alerts and minimise disaster impact.

The minister said that strict measures would be taken to curb uncontrolled excavation in road construction projects. He added that new policies based on the principle of sustainable development would be implemented to ensure environmental safety and long-term resilience.

Mandi Sadar MLA Anil Sharma, Zila Parishad member Champa Thakur, Mayor Virender Bhatt, Deputy Commissioner Apoorv Devgan, SP Sakshi Verma, Additional Deputy Commissioner Gursimar Singh, Municipal Commissioner Rohit Rathore, SDM Rupinder Kaur and senior officials of the Public Works, Jal Shakti, Power, Forest and other departments accompanied the minister.