Grave weather crisis has gripped Mandi district, completely paralysing transportation services and disrupting essential services due to massive landslides even as water level of the Beas river was rising.

A total of 333 roads, including the crucial Kiratpur-Manali National Highway, have been blocked, leaving over 2,000 vehicles stranded between Mandi and Kullu.

Landslides at Dwada, Jhalogi and Banala have rendered the Kiratpur-Manali highway impassable since early morning. The situation worsened when the alternative route via Kataula also became inaccessible.

The Seraj division has been the worst affected with 95 roads blocked, followed by 62 in Karsog, 57 in Dharampur, 54 in Thalaut and dozens more in other subdivisions.

Alongside road blockages, rural Mandi is facing major power outages with 402 electricity transformers disrupted. Water supply has also taken a hit with 62 drinking water schemes affected, impacting both rural and urban populations.

The Beas river, swollen by continuous rainfall, is flowing above the danger mark. In Saulikhad and parts of Mandi city, riverside houses have been inundated.

A portion of the historic Panchvaktra Temple, located at the confluence of the Beas and Suketi rivers, has submerged, raising alarm among locals. Two houses collapsed in Balichowki subdivision but no loss of life or injury was reported in this incident.

In response, Additional Deputy Commissioner Gursimar Singh, along with Additional SP Sachin Hirematt, conducted ground inspections of the damaged highway sections. Extensive damage was caused by landslides at Pandoh, near Baglamukhi ropeway, and near Jogni Mata Temple.

The ADC directed immediate restoration efforts. Most of the stranded vehicles are commercial and the administration has arranged for safe shelter and meals for drivers. Two relief camps have been set up at Government Senior Secondary School, Pandoh, and Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya, Pandoh, with a combined capacity for 300 people.

Traffic regulation points have been marked at Seven Mile, Nine Mile and Pandoh, where vehicles are allowed to move only under safe conditions.

The district administration continues efforts to restore normalcy, urging residents to avoid riverbanks and follow weather alerts. For emergencies, citizens may contact 1077 or landline numbers 01905-226201 to 226204.

Larji and Pandoh Dam authorities were releasing water from its reservoirs due to rise in water level of Beas. People have been advised to stay away from river banks in the next 24 hours.

Continuous heavy rainfall has caused widespread damage in Kullu district, with two shops washed away in Ramshilla and several others inundated in Manali’s Vegetable Marketing Yard.

A person stranded in the yard was rescued by police and fire brigade teams.

Deputy Commissioner Torul S Raveesh inspected rain-affected areas, directing officials to vacate vulnerable locations immediately.

Precautionary evacuations have begun in areas like Akhara Bazaar and Left Bank at Chharudu.

“The administration is actively engaged in relief and rescue operations. Field-level officers have been deployed across the district to extend every possible help to residents,” Raveesh said.

She added that anyone in need of emergency assistance should immediately reach out to local officials.

Earlier, Bhang village near Manali was vacated, and certain shops and parts of local markets were also cleared as a safety measure.

The Beas river and its tributaries are flowing at elevated levels, with water overflowing the Bailey Bridge in Patlikul.

Several landslides have blocked the Kullu-Manali highway, but traffic movement has been restored via the Left Bank through Raison.

In Manali, the Old Manali bridge and several footbridges were washed away in the floods. The Kullu–Manali road has been blocked at Bindu Dhak and near Shirad Resort in Raison due to landslides.

The DC appealed to residents and tourists to exercise caution, avoid unnecessary travel, and stay away from rivers and streams.

Authorities are actively engaged in relief and rescue operations, with field-level officers deployed across the district to provide assistance.

The state government is all set to take a loan of Rs 1,500 crore to meet its development needs and as a result, mere Rs 300 crore of the total loan limit will be available for the next four months this year.

The Finance Department has issued two notifications for raising loans of Rs 1,000 crore and Rs 500 crore. The Rs 10,000 crore loan will be for a 15-year term, returnable by August 28, 2040, while Rs 500 crore loan will have to be repaid in 10 years.

The consent of the Central Government has been obtained for the floatation of this loan as required under Article 293(3) of the Constitution of India.

By raising Rs 1,500 crore loan, the state government will be left with only Rs 300 crore of the total loan limit till December. The government is yet to give 3 per cent Dearness Allowance (DA) to its employees.

Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu has indicated that the next few months for Himachal will be financially very difficult in view of the Central Government capping the loan raising limit of the state government at Rs 6,200 crore annually.

He, however, has assured people that the state government will manage its committed liabilities of salaries and pension and pay these on time.

The situation will ease when the state gets grants as per the recommendations of the Sixth Finance Commission for 2026-31 from next year.

The total debt burden of the state government has already crossed Rs 1 lakh and so it will be a Herculean task for it to pay salaries and pension to its employees and pensioners.

The financial burden on the government has increased after it granted the old pension scheme (OPS) benefit to its employees.

So far, 1.17 lakh employees have opted for the OPS while 1,365 employees have chosen to stay with the New Pension Scheme (NPS).

Himachal has time and again urged the Central Government to return Rs 9,000 crore of the NPS contributions of the state government employees following the restoration of the OPS.

The state requires a minimum of about Rs 30,000 crore every year to foot the salary and pension bill of its employees and retirees.

The state is largely dependent on tax collections from revenue, mining and excise sectors.

The state government is facing a severe financial crisis as the reducing Revenue Deficit Grant (RDG) will be mere Rs 3,200 crore this year and the Central Government has capped its loan raising limit after the restoration of the OPS.

Heavy monsoonal rain and recurring landslides have left a trail of destruction in Himachal Pradesh.

As many as 25 national highways have been damaged and key road links have been cut off.

The Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways stated in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha that multiple embankments, retaining walls, bridges and road sections had collapsed or were washed away during the ongoing monsoon season.

According to the data provided by the ministry, landslides, sinking of roads and formation breaches had been reported from across the state and connectivity lifelines such as the Kullu-Manali highway, Hindustan-Tibet road and the Theog-Kotkhai-Hatkoti road stretch had suffered damage.

Massive landslides and falling boulders had also damaged elevated structures, tunnels and crash barriers. In several locations, highways had become impassable, cutting off access to remote valleys and tourist hubs.

Among the worst-affected roads was the National Highway-3 where the Kullu-Manali section had suffered embankment breaches while elevated structures on the Pandoh-Takoli road stretch had been damaged due to falling boulders.

The Manali-Sarchu road also suffered formation breaches and landslide-induced damage. Similarly, several landslips and damage to retaining walls on the Hindustan-Tibet highway were witnessed.

Other damaged roads included the Shillai-Meenus-Hatkoti, Nalagarh-Swarghat, Paonta Sahib-Jagadhri link road and several corridors connecting Una, Dharamsala and Chamba.

Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari informed the House that urgent works were being taken up to restore traffic flow through ongoing contracts or maintenance projects, with separate approvals being granted for permanent rectification after detailed assessments.

On financial support, the Central Government said that Himachal Pradesh had been allocated Rs 441.60 crore under the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) for 2025-26 and the first installment of Rs 198.80 crore had already been released.

In addition, Rs 107.15 crore was released from the National Disaster Response Fund last year for similar damages.

This year, an inter-ministerial Central team visited the state in July to assess losses due to flashfloods and landslides.

Earlier, a post-disaster needs assessment had pegged the requirement for recovery and reconstruction at Rs 2,006.40 crore and the Central Government had already released the first installment of Rs 451.44 crore.

Gadkari said that the government was working on long-term measures to make highways in the Himalayas more disaster-resilient.

These included slope protection, use of reinforced road technologies, early warning systems for cloudbursts and landslides and collaborations with scientific institutions for geotechnical studies and hazard monitoring.

The issue of the delay in payment of the pending 11 per cent Dearness Allowance (DA) to government employees echoed in the Himachal Pradesh assembly on Thursday, with a dissatisfied opposition BJP staging a protest while accusing the government of not honouring its commitment.

Raising the issue during question hour in the Vidhan Sabha, Una MLA Satpal Singh Satti said that despite the Chief Minister’s announcement in his Budget speech that the pending DA would be given to the employees soon, it was still pending.

Leader of the Opposition (LoP) Jai Ram Thakur and Jaswan MLA Bikram Singh accused the CM of misleading the House and not honouring his Budget commitment regarding the grant of DA.

Despite Speaker Kuldeep Pathania trying to pacify BJP legislators who were on their feet, raising slogans, the Opposition left the house.

Hitting back at the BJP, Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu said the state government had lost out on Rs 4,800 crore in the last three years due to having given the old pension scheme (OPS) to the employees.

“Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitaraman, in my meeting with her, has said that in case we agree to opt for the new pension scheme (NPS) or unified pensions scheme (UPS), the Himachal Government can get this amount at the rate of Rs 1,600 crore per annum,” he explained.

Explaining the financial health of the government, Sukhu said his government had given Rs 10,000 in pending arrears to the employees along with DA, which the previous BJP regime had failed to pay.

He said the Congress regime had paid two installments of three and four per cent DA and arrears of Rs 10,000 crore due on account of the Sixth Pay Commission.

“Despite the state getting a revenue deficit grant (RDG) of Rs 11,000 crore six months before the elections, the previous BJP regime did not give the employees their due,” he said.

The RDG has now come down to a mere Rs 3,200 crore every year, but as the health of the economy improves, the DA will be given within this budget.

“I have made provision for DA in the 2024-25 Budget, but considering the financial situation of the state government, it has been delayed.

The moment the situation improves, the pending DA will be given,” the CM assured.

He said it is not just the duty but also the responsibility of the government to give DA to employees, and misleading the house amounts to a breach of privilege.

LoP Jai Ram Thakur said the Congress had come to power due to the support of the employees and, as such, the state government must give the employees their pending 11 per cent DA.

“Congress portrayed itself as a protector of the interests of employees to come to power. Now they are putting the blame on our government despite being in power for more than two-and-a-half years,” said Thakur.

Flashfloods triggered by a cloudburst in the upper reaches of the Chaknani Nullah caused significant damage in the Shastri Nagar area of Kullu town in the wee hours of yesterday.

Two vehicles and three motorcycles parked on the roadside were partially buried under debris. Residents were awakened by the sound of rushing water as the drain’s water level rose sharply.

Floodwaters carried debris towards Gandhi Nagar, dumping slush in several homes and shops.

Kullu Municipal Council president Gopal Krishan Mahant, who visited the site, said flooding happened due to a cloudburst. He criticised the practice of dumping muck and garbage into drains, which, he said, led to blockages and flooding.

Meanwhile, the Aut-Luhri-Sainj National Highway-305 has been reopened for small vehicles between Aut and Jibhi but the Anni-Jalori road and the Kandugad alternative route remain closed.

Kullu Deputy Commissioner Torul S Raveesh advised residents to avoid unnecessary travel and check road conditions before moving out. Educational institutions in the district remained closed for the second consecutive day due to adverse weather conditions.

Incessant rain over the past few days have disrupted life in the valley. Over 100 roads are closed to traffic and 81 electricity transformers in the Kullu division have been damaged.

Additional 500 transformers supplying power from Thalaut to Banjar and Sainj are also non-functional. Floods have damaged 64 water supply schemes, while 10 concrete houses have been destroyed and 31 others partially-damaged.

Long-route bus services from Kullu have been suspended, causing losses to the Himachal Road Transport Corporation.

The Mandi-Kullu National Highway has been blocked again due to landslides, leading to hundreds of vehicles getting stranded near Takoli and Pandoh.

The Kullu-Kandi-Kataula-Mandi road is also blocked near Ropa, forcing passengers to turn back. Many vehicles were stuck midway.

Locals have urged the authorities concerned to divert traffic through the partially-completed Pandoh bypass tunnel to ease congestion.

A massive landslide on the Mandi-Pathankot National Highway near Lambadi has brought traffic to a halt.

A large section of the highway has collapsed and the restoration work is expected to take time. Mandi Additional DM Madan Kumar is overseeing the relief and rescue operations and efforts are underway to clear debris and reopen the route.

Hundreds of vehicles are stranded and essential services disrupted due to road blockades. The district administration has appealed to residents to remain patient, use alternative routes where possible and avoid travel unless absolutely necessary.

Two back-to-back earthquakes within a span of just over an hour jolted Chamba district in the early hours of Wednesday, triggering panic among residents and once again drawing attention to the region’s vulnerability to seismic activity.

According to the National Centre of Seismology, the first quake, a mild tremor measuring 3.3 on the Richter scale, struck at 3:27 a.m. Its epicenter was located near Sanwal in Salooni subdivision of Chamba at a depth of 20 kilometers.

Barely an hour later, at 4:39 a.m., another and comparatively stronger quake of magnitude 4.0 was recorded.

The second tremor was centered a little south of the earlier epicenter near Salooni but at a much shallower depth of just 5 kilometers, making it more strongly felt on the surface.

Seismologists note that Chamba, along with almost the entire state of Himachal Pradesh, falls in seismic zone V, which is classified as a “high damage risk zone”.

This makes the area particularly prone to frequent earthquakes of varying intensity. Experts caution that while most tremors in the region are of mild to moderate magnitude, the zone’s seismic profile demands constant preparedness as stronger earthquakes cannot be ruled out.

The district has witnessed a series of tremors in recent weeks. On July 26, a moderate earthquake of magnitude 4.1 had struck with its epicenter in Churah subdivision, while earlier on July 11, another quake measuring 3.5 was recorded along the Chamba-Kangra border.

More recently, on August 18, Kangra district experienced a 3.9 magnitude quake, whose epicentre was near to Chamba border.

In view of continuous rainfall and erratic weather conditions, the Kinnaur district administration today announced the closure of Kinnaur Kailash Yatra with immediate effect till further orders.

In an official order issued by Kinnaur DC Dr Amit Kumar Sharma, he mentioned that following continuous incessant rainfall, shooting stones, and dense fog in the region, which have already resulted in tragic incidents and loss of lives, it has been decided to close the yatra to ensure the safety of pilgrims.

He stated that in view of the prevailing weather conditions and forecasts predicting more rainfall and cloudy conditions in the next five to seven days, immediate precautionary measures were necessary to ensure public safety.

Therefore, exercising the powers under Section 34 of the Disaster Management Act, 2005, the yatra stands closed for the year 2025 with immediate effect and will remain so unless modified by further orders.

As per the orders, any pilgrim attempting to go on the yatra route will be escorted back to the base camp, and appropriate action will be taken against violators under the Disaster Management Act.

Kinnaur SP Abhishek Shekhar, in coordination with the Home Guards and DCF Kinnaur, will deploy adequate forces to ensure the safe return of pilgrims.

The Kalpa SDM has been directed to coordinate with the concerned departments, tourism association, panchayats, and other stakeholders for effective closure and compliance.

Additionally, all departments, local bodies, and enforcement personnel have been directed to ensure strict implementation of the order.

The district administration has appealed to the public and pilgrims to cooperate in the interest of safety and avoid any attempt to undertake the pilgrimage until further notice.

Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu said both BJP and Congress should come together to get a special relief package and relaxation in the Forest Conservation Act from the Central Government for the rehabilitation of disaster-affected people in Himachal Pradesh.

Sukhu was responding to the BJP’s allegation of discrimination in the distribution of disaster relief on political grounds during a debate under Rule 67 on the opening day of the monsoon session in the Vidhan Sabha today. He sought cooperation from the BJP in getting financial help from the Central Government.

Sukhu said, “We are willing to go under your leadership to thank the Prime Minister if Himachal is given a special financial package. The blame game will not help, as the incidents of cloudburst are happening every day.”

He said, “In times of rain disasters and profound grief, the state government and the Opposition must join hands in providing relief to the affected people, as a catastrophe can hit any part of the state.”

He added, “I urge the Central Government to compensate Himachal for the Rs 10,000 crore losses suffered during the 2023 monsoon season, as the state got mere Rs 2,000 crore.”

Sukhu rubbished the BJP’s allegation of discrimination and said that the state government had been making efforts to provide help parts from its limited resources to people not only in Seraj but also in all disaster-hit areas of Mandi, Kullu, Shimla, Chamba, Kinnaur and Una.

He said that Himachal had got nothing under the NDRF even 45 days after the June 30 disaster in Seraj. “In a federal structure, every state government routinely gets money under the SDRF and the NDRF, irrespective of which party is in power.

So far, not even one penny over and above the routine allocation has been received from the Central Government,” he added.

Sukhu said, “It is so unfortunate that BJP MLAs had staged a walk out when the Assembly was debating the issue of colossal damage caused by unprecedented heavy rain in 2023 to seek Central assistance.”

He lamented that Leader of the Opposition Jai Ram Thakur had sought area-specific relief only for Seraj in Mandi, which was not correct.

He said that there was no question of indulging in politics over the disaster and the government had issued a notification for providing as rent Rs 5,000 per month in rural areas and Rs 10,000 per month till the disaster-affected people rebuild their homes.

“I visited Seraj though pilots told me not go there. I insisted that ration need to be dropped so it was wrong to say that the state government didn’t extend any help,” he added.

Sukhu said that he had urged the Central Government to take up the construction of the Chatri-Jhanjeli-Seraj road, which is the lifeline of Seraj, as it would not be possible for the state government to fund such a big project.

Insult to National Flag can’t be tolerated

The people of Seraj had flung shoes and waived black flags at Revenue Minister Jagat Sing Negi, whose vehicle had the National Flag atop, the Chief Minister said

“The minister is not important but we will not tolerate the insult to the National Flag. If people tender an apology for insulting the Tricolor, we will drop the FIR registered against them, as our intention is not to harass anyone,” he added

Traffic movement remained disrupted on 355 roads, including three National Highways (NH), as heavy rainfall continued to wreak havoc across the state.

As per the State Emergency Operation Centre, traffic movement on 202 roads, including NH 21, was disrupted in Mandi district alone.

Additionally, 64 roads, including NH 305 in Kullu, 28 in Sirmaur, 27 in Kangra, nine in Chamba, eight in Shimla, seven in Una, six in Lahaul and Spiti, two — NH 5 in Kinnaur and one each in Bilaspur and Hamirpur districts — are disrupted for vehicular movement, causing inconveniences to commuters.

Also, as many as 1,067 distribution transformers, including 557 in Kullu, 385 in Mandi, 112 in Lahaul and Spiti, 11 in Kinnaur, two in Chamba, 116 in water supply schemes, 44 in Mandi, 41 in Kangra, 14 in Hamirpur, nine in Kullu, four in Shimla, three in Lahaul and Spiti and one in Solan district also remain disrupted.

As a result of a heavy downpour, the Shimla-Karsog road near Tattapani also sank, thus partially disrupting the traffic movement on the stretch.

As per the district administration, approximately 4.20 metre road in width was left while the rest of it got sunk in the Sutlej river.

Heavy rainfall is likely to continue across Himachal as the Meteorological Department issued a yellow weather warning for August 18, 21, 22 and 23, resulting in a few spells of very heavy to heavy rain in isolated parts of the state.

Maximum temperatures could likely rise from 2°C to 3°C in the next three to four days, while minimum temperatures would likely remain the same.

The state witnessed very heavy to heavy rainfall in isolated places as well as light to moderate rain at most places during the last 24 hours.

Kataula in Mandi district received 120 mm rain, which was the highest in the state, while Kangra received 110.8 mm, Nahan 103 mm, Paonta Sahib 69.8 mm, Shaulakuan 67 mm, Bhuntar 63.3 mm, Palampur 60.4 mm, Narkanda 27 mm, Mandi 26 mm, Dharamshala 20.6 mm, Bilaspur 10.4 mm, Manali 8 mm, Kufri 4 mm and Shimla 1 mm precipitation.