Kangra: 1,300 rescued from Indora, Fatehpur

Tribune News Service

Lalit Mohan

Dharamsala, August 16

The Kangra district administration with the help of the Indian Air Force (IAF) today rescued 1,300 people living in the Mand area of the Indora and Fatehpur constituencies after more water was released from the Pong Dam reservoir. The IAF pressed its helicopters into service while NDRF and SDRF teams rescued villagers with the help of boats.

150 still stranded in Mand area

• 150 people are still stranded in Mand area located on the Beas riverbed in Indora and Fatehpur
• The Kangra administration launched rescue operation with the help of the IAF, NDRF and the SDRF

The Mand area lies on the Beas riverbed downstream the Pong Dam reservoir. People cultivate land along the Beas riverbed and have also constructed houses there. However, due to heavy rain in the catchment area of the Beas this year, the Pong Dam is already full to the brim.

As per the data available from the BBMB, the water level of the Pong Dam was at 1,398.68 feet today, which was more than the maximum level of 1,395 feet generally maintained in the reservoir. The BBMB released 141,960 cusecs of water from the Pong Dam reservoir today, leading to floods in the Mand area.

Kangra Deputy Commissioner Nipun Jindal said that 1,300 people were evacuated from flooded villages in the Indora and Fatehpur Assembly constituencies. The evacuation operation was still going on and around 150 people were still to be rescued, he added.

Jindal said that the district administration had advised people to leave the area after the BBMB issued an alert that water would be released from the Pong Dam reservoir. However, they were reluctant to leave their houses and cattle and because of this reason now the help of the IAF and the NDRF was requisitioned to evacuate them, he added.

The district administration has housed the rescued people at the Damtal temple and the Radha Soami sect facilities in Fatehpur and Indora. They are being provided food through community kitchen.

The villages that have been affected due to floods in the Beas include Badala, Bela Indora, Mand Sanour, Miyani, Ulahiriyyan and Mand.

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