Himachal landslides: 2 BRO officers lose lives in rescue ops
Darpan News Desk IANS, 31 Jul, 2021 09:41 AM
New Delhi, July 31 (IANS) Two Border Roads Organisation (BRO) officers lost their lives during rescue and relief operations in Himachal Pradesh, which is witnessing flash floods and landslides due to heavy rainfall.
The BRO lost an engineer and a project officer during relief and rescue operation in the state.
In Lahaul and Spiti Valley, the strategic Manali - Sarchu road was closed for traffic at various places due to multiple landslides. "BRO's Project Deepak located at Shimla immediately despatched its trained Engineering Task Force with personnel and equipment to undertake the rescue and road clearing operations," BRO said in a statement.
On July 29, on one such stretch near Sarchu ahead of Baralachala pass on Manali Leh road, a number of civilians, including women and children, were stranded and facing problems due to lack of oxygen in inclement high-altitude conditions.
The BRO team cleared the landslide, amid a series of other landslides, near Kenlung Sarai located at an altitude of 14,480 ft and rescued the people.
However, Naik Reetesh Kumar Pal of Project Deepak, who was part of the rescue efforts, lost his life. The road was, later, opened for traffic.
In another incident on July 27, 2021, a separate Engineer Task Force of BRO was deployed for clearance of Kiler-Tandi road which was blocked due to heavy landslides. Two passenger vehicles were stranded in the area.
The team, which had already cleared two landslides enroute, carried out a late night clearance operation to save lives of civilians stranded in the slide zone.
During the operation, some members of the team, six civilians and a vehicle were washed away by a sudden flash flood. Junior Engineer Rahul Kumar lost his life in the incident, while others were rescued by the BRO personnel.
The BRO personnel, later, cleared the landslide, rescued the stranded passengers and moved them to safer locations.
The passage of the bill through both the houses of the parliament will be fulfilment of the demand of 12 lakh Indians who marched across 22 states and 12,000km demanding a strong law against trafficking along with Kailash Satyarthi in 2017.
Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh has announced waiver of Rs 590 crore worth of loans under the farm debt waiver scheme for labourers and the landless farming community, an official statement said on Wednesday.
Under this proposed plan, the purchase and installation of EV chargers will be provided under two options -- outright purchase (an outright option is one that is purchased individually and is not part of a multiple leg options trade) and on a monthly subscription basis.
Noting that the world has been witnessing the third wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, NITI Aayog member V.K. Paul on Tuesday appealed to Indians to join hands to avoid its spread in India, warning that a "majority of cases will be reported if the next wave comes".
The Congress on Tuesday attacked the Narendra Modi government over inflation and rising fuel prices and demanded immediate relief by reducing taxes on petroleum products and import duty on various items.
