Kullu, November 20
The sudden death of eight labourers, seven from Jharkand and one identified as Dharam Dut from Gohar Mandi, due to hypothermia in the snowstorm travelling at 156 km per hour in Rohtang-Rani Nala area, 52 km from Manali has exposed the callous treatment meted out to labourers working in hostile weather conditions. There is a lack of coordination between the rescue posts at Marhi (Manali) and Koksar
(Lahaul).
Seven bodies have been retrieved from the Rani Nala and one body was yet to be retrieved. The labourers said that nobody warned them about the snowstorm at Koksar when they were moving towards the Rohtang pass in the morning today. There was no registration of people crossing the Rohtang pass from both sides by the rescue post staff, they said.
They are not in touch with their families in Jharkhand and have been stranded in Lahaul since October 13. They alleged that neither the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) nor private contractors of the BRO provide them appropriate clothing and sheds to stay in the snowbound valley and they were mostly at the mercy of nature.
The sources from Koksar claimed that the laboourers worked in the GREF which is doing the widening work on the Manali-Leh highway in the Lahaul valley. The rescue team at Marhi did not inform the Koksar team about the strong winds blowing in the uphill Marhi area today around 12 pm. The snowstorm struck between 1 pm and 1.30 pm in which eight labourers perished.
