Landslip in Una during Hola Mohalla fair kills two from Punjab

UNA, MARCH 26

Two persons were killed and seven others injured after they were hit by debris from a landslide during the Hola Mohalla fair in Mairi village of Amb subdivision in Una district on Monday. While one injured person belonged to Haryana, the remaining hailed from different parts of Punjab.

According to Additional Superintendent of Police Sanjeev Bhatia, the devotees had come to participate in the Hola Mohalla at Dera Baba Badbhag Singh in Mairi village. As per the tradition, after paying obeisance at the dera, the devotees take a bath at Charan Ganga. Due to the rush of devotees, the local administration has installed multiple overhead pipelines which continuously pour water on the devotees moving below them.

At about 5 am on Monday, some rocks broke loose from a hillock under which the devotees were bathing. The debris killed two persons, who were identified as Billa, son of Kewal Singh from Faridkot, and Balbir Chand, son of Batna Ram, a resident of Faridpur in Jalandhar district.

Three seriously injured persons were admitted to the Una district hospital. After the incident, the

district administration ordered the closure of Charan Ganga site.