20 families shift from Kotrupi after landslip, demand rehabilitation

After a cloudburst, an entire portion of a big hill came down and a number of houses and vehicles on the Mandi-Pathankot National Highway.

An Indian policeman gestures at the site of a landslide on August 14, 2017, which swept away two passenger buses along a highway in the Kotrupi area near Urla, roughly 200 kilometres (124 miles) from Himachal Pradesh state capital Shimla. Emergency workers were scouring the area hit by a massive landslide that swept two passenger buses into a deep gorge on August 13, killing at least 46 people in the mountainous northern state of Himachal Pradesh. / AFP PHOTO / -

About 20 families of farmers who witnessed the landslip havoc of Kotrupi in Mandi on Sunday morning shifted to nearby villages, since the mud slide and fall of boulders have not stopped. They have demanded that since they have moved out the administration should help them in their rehabilitation somewhere else.

After a cloudburst, an entire portion of a big hill came down and a number of houses and vehicles on the Mandi-Pathankot National Highway were buried in the debris.

The authorities who are working overtime to restore the highway said it would take a couple of days more for traffic to resume. The highway connects the two important districts of Mandi and Kangra. Executive Engineer Anil Sangrai said the decision to allow vehicles to ply again on the highway would be taken by the district administration.

The rescue operation by NDRF and Army personnel at the disaster site continued on Monday also but no more bodies were recovered. The administration had recovered 46 bodies on Sunday and 14 of them are yet to be identified, said Sandeep Kadam, Deputy Commissioner. Around 70 people have died in the State so far because of the monsoon fury and the recovery of some more bodies from the debris at Kotrupi cannot be ruled out.

Meanwhile a village near the Mandi-Pathankot National Highway was on Monday declared unsafe and residents were asked to shift to safer places in view of threat of landslips. The Himachal Road Transport Corporation has suspended night services on 65 landslip-prone roads in Shimla district.

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With PTI inputs )