The Army continues its efforts in rescue and restoration in the areas affected by the cloudburst that occurred on Thursday in Rampur’s Samej.

The Army has established temporary bridges to establish connectivity between areas cut off to facilitate rescue operations.

Teams of NDRF, SDRF, Home Guard and CISF have been coordinating to carry out the rescue and search operation.

Home Guard Commandant RP Nepta informed ANI about the rescue operation that recommenced at 7 am in Rampur’s Samej. He stated that five JCBs had been deployed and various teams trying to coordinate to recover the maximum number of bodies.

“It is the fourth day today. Yesterday there was a review meeting. Today, we will work on a war footing. Five JCBs have been deployed here. Task forces have been assigned different roles here. The search operation commenced at 7 am. I am hoping that we will recover bodies today. Local people have told us where we can possibly find bodies. We will conduct search operations over there as well. We are also building a bridge,” said the Home Guard Commandant.

“NDRF, CISF, Army, and Home Guard teams have reached there. We are hoping that the maximum number of bodies will be recovered today. The three bodies that have been recovered have not been identified yet. That is why we are showing those bodies to people. We are also providing relief to people. As many as 36 people are missing here,” he added.

Minister Vikramaditya Singh said on Saturday that around 50 people are feared dead in the affected areas and the official number can only be declared after official confirmation and completion of rescue operations.

Singh said the topmost priority of the state government is to retrieve the bodies and restore connectivity in the affected areas of the state as soon as possible.

More trouble for Himachal as Met predicts heavy rain till Aug 7; no trace of 45 missing in Shimla’s Rampur after cloudbursts

According to officials, 410 rescuers from teams of the Army, NDRF, SDRF, ITBP, CISF, Himachal Pradesh Police and home guards are involved in the hunt with the help of drones.

Meanwhile, 114 roads in the state have been closed due to flash floods and landslides, while the weather department on Saturday warned that heavy showers would continue in the state till August 7.

About 45 people have been missing since a series of cloudbursts occurred in Kullu’s Nirmand, Sainj and Malana; Mandi’s Padhar and Shimla’s Rampur subdivision on the night of July 31 and wreaked havoc.

The body of 11-year-old Anamika was found under a big boulder, which was blasted by the rescue teams, the officials said.

“The possibility of rescuing people alive is diminishing with each passing hour but we just hope that the bodies are recovered soon as delay would lead to decaying of bodies which would make identification difficult,” said Pradhan of Gram Sarpara Mohan Lal Kaptiya.

“A combined rescue operation is underway and efforts are afoot to search for the missing people. We are using various equipment and sensors to detect victims buried or trapped under the debris,” said NDRF Commanding Officer Karam Singh whose team along with others is engaged in searching for the missing people in Samej village on the border of Shimla and Kullu district.

In Rampur subdivision’s Samej village alone, over 30 people are reported missing.

Former chief minister and Leader of Opposition Jai Ram Thakur on Saturday visited the Sainj area in Kullu district and interacted with the affected families.

He said that some of the victims are still awaiting the relief fund and asked the administration to provide help at the earliest.

On Friday, Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, who visited Samej village, announced an immediate relief of Rs 50,000 for the victims and said they would be given Rs 5,000 monthly for rent for the next three months along with gas, food and other essential items.

He also said that 115 houses, 23 cowsheds, 10 shops and three fish farms have perished in this disaster besides motorable, footbridges and vehicles in cloudburst since Wednesday night.

The state has suffered a loss of Rs 662 crore since the onset of monsoon on June 27 till August 3. Seventy-nine people have lost their lives in rain-related incidents, as per the state emergency operation centre.

114 roads closed in the state

Of the roads closed for vehicular traffic, 36 are in Mandi, 34 in Kullu, 27 in Shimla, eight in Lahaul and Spiti, seven in Kangra, and two in Kinnaur district, according to the state emergency operation centre.

The Himachal Roads Transport Corporation has suspended its bus services on 82 routes, an official said.

Traffic on a stretch of the Chandigarh-Manali National Highway, which had been blocked after a heavy rain, has been restored, authorities said on Saturday.

The stretch between Mandi and Pandoh was blocked Friday night following landslides caused by rain at 5 Mile, 6 Mile and 9 Mile. It took authorities 10 hours to open the road section.

The road was strewn with stones and debris, causing the administration to ask light vehicles to commute via Kataula and Gohar. A large number of vehicles were still stranded on the road.

According to authorities, the road at 5 Mile and 6 Mile has been cleared and one-way traffic is allowed from Mandi to Pandoh at 9 Mile. The road is expected to be opened by 10 am.
The road between Pandoh and Aut has also been damaged near Godh Nallah and Jogni Mata Temple, restricting the traffic to only one side of the carriageway.

The Mandi-Janjehli road was closed near Thunag and Mandi-Dharampur road was closed near Kumarhda. The Mandi administration has asked commuters to keep in mind the condition of the road as well as weather before travelling.

A total of 115 roads –- 46 in Mandi, 38 in Kullu, 15 in Shimla, six each in Kangra and Sirmaur, three in Kinnaur, and one in Lahaul and Spiti — are closed for vehicular traffic following heavy rain in the state Friday evening, according to the state emergency operation centre. with PTI inputs

BJP Mandi MP Kangana Ranaut on Friday termed the catastrophic floods in Himachal Pradesh as “saddening”, adding that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah have taken reports

It’s a very saddening thing for us. The life of people living in the mountains is tough. Every year such tragedies come and damage the lives and property of the people of Himachal Pradesh. The PM and the Union HM have taken reports for all the things and have given assurance that more help through relief funds will be provided. I’ll also meet different ministers to seek as much help as I can get. After my work is completed here, I’ll visit Himachal to meet people in their tough times,” Kangana Ranaut said.

She also took a jibe at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s claim of ED’s action against him. She said “he makes no sense whatever he says”.

“What should I say about Rahul Gandhi? He makes no sense, at least I don’t get what he says. The most condemnable thing about him is the words he used for the country… It’s not good for the country and as Anurag Thakur has said, Congress’ mentality is to break the nation in pieces to benefit themselves, this thing has been going on since the time of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru,” Ranaut said.

An old woman is staring at the roaring nullah full of massive boulders and debris. Her middle-aged son, looking equally lost and dejected, also has his gaze fixed on the nullah.

The mother and the son are clearly unable to accept that two of their family members (his wife and daughter) have been swept away by the gushing waters and are hoping for a miracle.

Like these two heartbroken souls, there are several other stony-eyed people in Samej village on the border of Shimla district and Kullu district near Rampur, mourning their losses. This small village, located on either side of the nullah, was hit by flashfloods on Wednesday midnight following a cloudburst higher up in the hills.

Search to be carried out in 85-km area

The rescue and search operation for 36 persons missing from Samej village, near Rampur, will be carried out over 85 km
Personnel of the NDRF, SDRF, Army, CISF, ITBP, Police, Home Guards and the Fire Department are part of the rescue teams
Anupam Kashyap, Deputy Commissioner, Shimla, and SP Sanjeev Gandhi monitored the rescue operation, which started at 5.30 am, throughout the day
The rescue teams had to walk 2 km to reach the affected area due to the broken road
The search operation will start tomorrow morning and continue till the sunset
The rescue teams were engaged in search and rescue operations at different places
The flashfloods swept away 36 persons and around 25 houses in the village and nearby places down the stream, leaving the entire area in mourning. Someone has lost a wife in the floods, someone saw their children swept away, and a few lost their entire family.
“I was tossed around by the waters before I caught a wooden log and managed to come out of water. Unfortunately, my wife was swept away,” said Prem Chand (75).
People recall hearing a loud noise a little past midnight, followed by water in the nullah rising several metres high. “I woke up hearing a loud noise around midnight. I was shaken when I saw out of my window the water in the nullah had risen as high as the road. And then, I saw some houses on the other bank collapsing in gushing waters,” says Ashish. “I woke up my mother, and we rushed to safety,” he adds.
Along with the houses, a multi-storied building of a Primary Health Centre and a primary school building have been washed away. Lower down the stream, a hydro project has been wrecked by the big boulders that came with the water.
Several agencies have been pressed into the rescue and search operations. “The rescue operation is over, the focus is now on retrieval of the missing persons,” said Sanjeev Gandhi, SP, Shimla. Two bodies were recovered today, but are yet to be identified.

Three people were killed and about 50 went missing following several incidents of cloudburst in Himachal Pradesh where rains washed away many houses, bridges and roads.

The state emergency operation centre said the cloudburst took place in Nirmand, Sainj and Malana areas in Kullu, Padhar in Mandi and Rampur in Shimla districts.

Some people are stuck in the Malana I hydropower project. They are in underground buildings and safe and NDRF and Home Guard teams are making efforts to rescue them, she said adding that Manali-Chandigarh National Highway has been breached at numerous places due to landslides and gushing waters of River Beas.

All educational institutions and schools in the district have been closed for two days in Kullu.

Three people were killed and about 50 went missing following several incidents of cloudburst in Himachal Pradesh where rains washed away many houses, bridges and roads.

The state emergency operation centre said the cloudburst took place in Nirmand, Sainj and Malana areas in Kullu, Padhar in Mandi and Rampur in Shimla districts.

Some people are stuck in the Malana I hydropower project. They are in underground buildings and safe and NDRF and Home Guard teams are making efforts to rescue them, she said adding that Manali-Chandigarh National Highway has been breached at numerous places due to landslides and gushing waters of River Beas.

All educational institutions and schools in the district have been closed for two days in Kullu.

In the early hours on Tuesday, a flash flood swept through Tosh Nullah in the Manikaran Valley of Kullu district, causing significant damage to infrastructure.

The deluge affected two shops, including a wine shop, and inundated a local café. Additionally, a road bridge in the region sustained substantial damage. No loss of life was reported.

According to SDM Kullu Vikas Shukla, the dredging efforts in the area played a crucial role in preventing a major disaster.

Had it not been for these measures, the flash flood could have reached the Kasol market, potentially leading to severe consequences.

The incident marks the second such occurrence in Kullu district this monsoon season. Earlier, a similar flash flood in the Anjani Mahadev area near Manali had washed away three houses and blocked the Manali-Leh highway for an extended period.

SDM Shukla assured that the situation is now under control and normalcy is being restored. Authorities continue to monitor the region to prevent further issues and ensure the safety of the residents.

The meteorological office (MeT) here on Monday issued an orange alert for heavy to very heavy rain, thunderstorm and lightning over the next two days in seven districts of Himachal Pradesh.

A total of 45 roads, including 29 in Mandi, 8 in Kullu, 4 in Shimla and 2 each in Kangra and Kinnaur districts are closed for vehicular traffic, and 215 transformers are disrupted across the state, the emergency operation centre said.

The Met also sounded a yellow alert for heavy rain on July 30 and August 2 at isolated places in the state.

Monsoon activity is likely to intensify during the next 4 to 5 days with widespread precipitation. Spells of heavy to very heavy rainfall are likely to occur at one or two places in the districts of Una, Bilaspur, Hamirpur, Kangra, Mandi, Shimla and Sirmaur on Tuesday and Wednesday, it said.

The weather department also cautioned of possibility of landslides and flash floods in vulnerable areas of Kullu, Solan, Sirmaur, Shimla, and Kinnaur districts and damage to plantations and standing crops, vulnerable structures and ‘kutcha’ houses due to strong winds, and waterlogging in low-lying areas.

According to rainfall data in the past 24 hours till 5 pm, Ghamoor was the wettest in the state, recording 100 mm rainfall, followed by Dhaulakuan (70 mm), Jubbarhatti (63.4 mm) Dharamshala (53.8 mm), Dehra Gopipur (47.2 mm), Poanta Sahib (43.4 mm), Kufri (43.6 mm), Solan (42.4 mm), and Nahan (40.4 mm).

Tabo in Lahaul and Spiti was the coldest at night, recording a low of 13.7 degrees Celsius, while Dhaulakuan in Sirmaur district was hottest during the day recording a high of 36.4 degree Celsius.

Official data recorded until this evening showed rain-related incidents have claimed 62 lives in the past one month since the onset of monsoon on June 27.

Himachal Pradesh has suffered losses to the tune of Rs 425 crore in the ongoing monsoon, according to the state emergency operation centre.

One person was killed and three others injured after shooting stones hit a Bolero Camper vehicle near Datiyar on the Parwanoo-Dharampur section of National Highway-5, around 3:17 am on Monday.

The vehicle carrying a Punjab-based vernacular daily was bound for Shimla from Jalandhar.

According to officials, the deceased has been identified as Dev Raj (40), a resident of Phagwara, while those injured are Kuldeep Singh (40) from Garhshankar, Vandana Sondhi (43) and her son Bhavuk (23) from Jalandhar.

The front portion of the vehicle was damaged as heavy boulders rained down on it.

Solan SP Gaurav Singh said that a passersby informed the police about the incident in which a person died on the spot while others are undergoing treatment at a hospital in Parwanoo.

“Further investigation is under way,” he added.

Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu today said that his government was according top priority to the upliftment of weaker sections to create a just and equitable society, where everyone had access to opportunities and resources.

In a statement issued here today, the Chief Minister said his government has launched various schemes to benefit these sections so that they could lead a dignified life. The state government is providing a grant of Rs 1.50 lakh to SC, ST and OBCs with less than Rs 50,000 per annum for construction of houses under the Swaran Jayanti Ashray Yojna. He said Rs 17.25 crore has been spent under this scheme during the last financial year, benefitting 1,150 homeless persons.

Sukhu said the state government is also offering a scheme to make the weaker sections of society to become self-sufficient by imparting them training in professional courses and offering financial assistance for purchase of necessary equipments to start their ventures. He said the state government is providing computer training free of cost to children from weaker sections.

He said Rs 1,000 per month stipend is being given during training and Rs 1,500 during the six-month proficiency training in government offices, with 3,637 persons benefitting. Sukhu said the state government is funding education, health, social, economic, skill development, drinking water sports, sanitation and solar energy sector for the minority. He said a common centre at Kaza is being constructed with an outlay of Rs 12.77 crore. He said 11 projects worth Rs 25.45 crore have been approved by the government for the benefit of minorities.

Fifty-six people have died in rain-related incidents in Himachal Pradesh and the state has suffered losses of Rs 410 crore since the onset of monsoon on June 27, the emergency operation centre said.

According to the data from the state centre, 21 died after falling from heights, 18 due to accidental drowning, eight each due to snake bites and electrocution while one died in a flash flood.

No deaths were reported due to landslides or cloudburst, it said.

About 100 houses were damaged, with the Public Works Department suffering the maximum loss of Rs 172 crore, followed by the Horticulture Department with Rs Rs 139 crores, the centre added.

The Shimla meteorological office issued a ‘yellow’ alert, warning for heavy rainf at isolated places in eight districts of the state till July 31 and predicted a wet spell till August 2.

The MeT cautioned about damage to plantations, standing crops, vulnerable structures and ‘kutcha’ houses due to strong winds, and waterlogging in low-lying areas.

Intermittent rain continued to lash parts of the state with Dhaulakuan in Sirmaur district receiving 123 mm of rain followed by 74.5 mm in Nahan, 40.2 mm in Kataula, 32 mm in Palampur, 31.2 mm in Poanta Sahib, 27.6 mm in Dharamshala, 26.8 mm in Sundernagar and 25 mm in Baijnath.

The state has recorded a 40 per cent rain deficit from June 1 to July 27, with 194 mm of rainfall against the average of 321.2 mm.

Meanwhile the rain deficit in the month of July alone was 33 per cent, as the state received 147.5 mm rain against the normal of 220.1 mm from July 1 to 27.

The Silver Jubilee of Kargil Vijay Diwas was celebrated in a grand manner at the State War Memorial here today. Brigadier GS Puri, Station Commander Yol 9th Corps, participated as the chief guest and paid tribute to the martyrs, while the district administration, army officials, ex-servicemen and various organisations offered floral tributes.

Remembering the exemplary bravery of country’s soldiers, Brigadier Puri said, “Tribute is paid to the bravehearts, who attained martyrdom on Vijay Diwas. The state of Himachal has every reason to take pride for its largest contribution in the security and defence of the nation. The youth of the day should take inspiration and emulate these war heroes who sacrificed their present for our future.”

In the Kargil War that lasted for more than two months, 52 soldiers from Himachal Pradesh sacrificed their lives. It started on May 25, 1999, and the brave Indian Army men sacrificed their lives and drove the enemies out of the country’s borders making Operation Vijay a success. A total of 527 soldiers were martyred across the country.

For their exemplary contribution to the Kargil war, a total of four Param Vir Chakra medals were announced as the highest honour of the Army across the country. Of these four, two are named after the heroes of Himachal. In this great war, Captain Vikram Batra was awarded the Param Vir Chakra posthumously and Subedar Sanjay Kumar was awarded the Param Vir Chakra alive.

Of the 52 soldiers from Himachal Pradesh, who sacrificed their lives, 15 were from Kangra district followed by 11 from Mandi district, seven each from Hamirpur and Bilaspur, four from Shimla, two each from Una, Solan and Sirmaur and one each from Chamba and Kullu districts.

State Sainik League general secretary, Col RP Guleria (retd), said he still remembered the Kargil War of 1999, when the country’s soldiers had hoisted the Tricolor on Tiger Hill. “Our forces with all their bravery defeated the invaders who had entered the motherland and conquered the last peak on July 26.”

The Manali-Leh National Highway-3 has been opened for vehicular traffic, officials said on Friday, two days after a section of the road was blocked between Dhundi and Palchan Bridge following a flash flood.

The deluge was caused by a cloudburst at the Anjani Mahadev nullah in Manali around Wednesday midnight.

The road was thrown open on Thursday evening by the Border Road Organisation (BRO), the officials added. The traffic was earlier being routed via Rohtang Pass.

The flash flood triggered by the cloudburst swept away three houses and critically damaged another one, leaving four families homeless. The affected families are putting up at a school for the time being.

The Shimla meteorological office on Friday issued a ‘yellow’ alert of heavy rainfall at isolated places in eight out of 12 districts of the state for the next four days till July 30.

It cautioned about damage to plantations and standing crops, vulnerable structures and ‘kutcha’ houses due to strong winds, and waterlogging in low-lying areas.

Intermittent rain continued to lash parts of the state, with Dharamshala recording 53.6 mm of downpour, followed by Shimla 50 mm, Brahmani 40.6 mm, Sundernagar 45 mm, Gohar 40 mm, Slapper 32.3 mm, Baggi 31.4 mm, Dhaulakuan 31 mm, Jubberhatti 21.2 mm, Kasauli 12 mm, Dalhousie 11 mm and Manali 10 mm.

Fifty-one people have died in rain-related incidents in the state since the onset of the monsoon on June 27 and losses suffered so far are worth around Rs 390 crore, according to the emergency operation centre.

Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu on Wednesday launched the official website of Paragliding World Cup, which will be held from November 2-9 at Bir Billing in Kangra district. The website will contain all information related to the championship.

The CM said it would be organised by the Billing Paragliding Association and state government. “It is a matter of pleasure that such a prestigious event is being organised in the state. It will go a long way in boosting tourism-related activities,” he said.

Sukhu said 130 pilots from nearly 50 countries were expected to compete in one of the most challenging and exhilarating environments at the picturesque location of Bir Billing.

Sukhu highlighted the government’s commitment to boosting adventure tourism in the region. “The state, with its stunning landscapes and favourable weather conditions, is a heaven for paragliding enthusiasts. The government is committed to providing necessary support to ensure that the event is well-organised,” he said.

The Himachal Paragliding Festival would also be organised to showcase cultural arts, adventure sports, wellness, literature and entertainment. Billing Paragliding Association president Anurag Sharma said the world cup would not only highlight the paragliders’ talent but also showcase adventure opportunities in the Kangra region at the international forum.

In a major decision on Thursday, the Central Government approved a range of urban flood management and glacial lake outburst flood mitigation projects for several states, including the hilly states of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand which were ravaged by rains last year.

A high-level committee, under the chairmanship of Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation Amit Shah, approved several disaster mitigation and capacity building projects for states today.

The meeting of HLC comprising Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. Agriculture Minister Shivraj Chouhan and Vice Chairman NITI Aayog as members was held in here today.

The committee considered a total of nine proposals for funding from National Disaster Mitigation Fund (NDMF) and National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) to combat urban flooding in six cities, to mitigate Glacial Lake Outburst Flood (GLOF) in four hill states and to strengthen fire services in three states.

The committee also considered a proposal to implement Yuva Aapda Mitra Scheme in all the 28 states.

Six projects of Rs 2514.36 crore clearer for urban flood management will cover Mumbai, Kolkata, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad and Pune.

Three projects of Rs 810.64 crore under “Expansion and Modernization of Fire Services in the states” for Assam, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu were passed.

GLOF risk mitigation project proposal of Rs 150 crore for Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh was approved by the high-level committee which also cleared Yuva Aapda Mitra Scheme (YAMS) at an outlay of Rs 470.50 crore to be implemented in 315 most disaster-prone districts of for training of 1,300 trained Aapda Mitra Volunteers as Master Trainers and 2.37 lakh volunteers.

The Himachal Pradesh High Court on Wednesday issued notice to Kangana Ranaut, the BJP Lok Sabha member from Mandi, on a petition filed by a Kinnaur resident for setting aside her election on the grounds that his nomination papers to contest from the Lok Sabha constituency were allegedly wrongly rejected.

Issuing the notice, Justice Jyotsna Rewal directed Ranaut to file a reply by August 21.

Ranaut had won from Mandi Lok Sabha seat, defeating her rival Congress candidate Vikramaditya Singh by 74,755 votes. She had polled 5,37,002 votes against Singh’s 4,62,267 votes.

Pleading for setting aside the election of Ranaut, the petitioner, Layak Ram Negi, maintained that his nomination papers were wrongly rejected by the returning officer (Deputy Commissioner, Mandi) and also made him a party.
Negi, an ex-employee of the forest department, said that he got premature retirement and produced a “no dues certificate” from the department along with nomination papers to the returning officer.

However, he was given a day to produce the “no due certificate” from the electricity, water and telephone departments and when he submitted them, the returning officer did not accept them and rejected the nomination papers.

He pleaded that he could have won the election had his papers been accepted and said that the election be set aside.

Centre for Development of Telematics (C-DOT) signed an agreement with the Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee, (IIT-Roorkee) and Indian Institute of Technology, Mandi, (IIT-Mandi) for the development of ‘Cell-Free’ 6G Access Points. Both the IITs are collaborating to develop this technology.

The C-DOT is a telecom research and development centre of the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) of the Government.

IIT’s aim to enhance connectivity, signal strength and data speeds; to contribute 6G standardisation, patents and commercialisation.

The project is in-line with ‘Bharat 6G vision’ that aims to establish India as a global leader in 6G technology, driving innovation, connectivity and digital inclusion, the Ministry of Communications said on Wednesday.

The Telecom Technology Development Fund is being used for funding this research.

The new technology being developed is different from traditional mobile networks that you use ‘cells’ installed at base stations to service mobile customers.

The new technology called ‘Cell-Free’ Massive Multiple-Input and Multiple-Output eliminates the idea of cells and cell boundaries by deploying several access points across a vast region to serve many user devices at the same time.

This eliminates ‘no signal’ zones, enhance signal strength, and significantly boosts data speeds.

This 6G project will focus on developing the upcoming 6G radio access networks.

The agreement was signed during a ceremony attended by C-DOT’s CEO Rajkumar Upadhyay and Director Pankaj Kumar Dalela, and principal and IIT-Roorkee’s investigator Abhay Kumar Sah and IIT-Mandi’s co-investigator Adarsh Patel Kumar.

Farmers in Himachal Pradesh expressed disappointment on Tuesday as their key demands of 100 per cent duty on apple imports and GST exemption to farm inputs were not addressed in the Union Budget for 2024-25.

Fruit Vegetable Flower Growers Association president Harish Chauhan said that hopes of farmers of Himachal Pradesh have been dashed as their main demand of 100 per cent import duty on apples to check import of cheap apples has not been addressed in the Union Budget presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.

“We have been demanding exemption in GST on farm inputs and equipment but nothing has been done in this regard,” he said in a video message.

Apple is cultivated on 1,15,680 hectares spread over 21 assembly segments mainly in Shimla, Mandi, Kullu and Kinnaur districts and a few pockets of Chamba, Sirmaur, Lahaul and Spiti, Kangra and Solan districts.

The apple economy in the state is estimated at Rs 5,000 crore. At present, the import duty on apples is 50 per cent. Over 3 lakh families are directly involved in apple production, as per the official data.

“However, the scheme announced for marketing and cold chain in clusters for vegetable growers is welcomed but it would be difficult for the farmers of the state to get benefit under this scheme as land holdings are small in Himachal Pradesh and making clusters is difficult,” Chauhan said.

Himachal Pradesh Vidhan Sabha Speaker Kuldeep Singh Pathania on Monday administered oath to the three newly elected legislators, including Kamlesh Thakur, the wife of Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu.

The oath ceremony was conducted inside the House in the presence of the Chief Minister, Leader of the Opposition, Cabinet Ministers and other members.

The members who took oath included Congress MLAs Kamlesh Thakur from the Dehra Assembly seat, Hardeep Singh Bawa from the Nalagarh seat and BJP legislator Ashish Sharma from the Hamirpur Assembly constituency.

With the induction of the three MLAs, the House is complete with 68 members and the strength of Congress has risen to 40 while BJP has 28 members in the legislative Assembly.

There is no independent MLA in the Vidhan Sabha for the first time in the history of Himachal Pradesh.

Also, this is the first time a couple, CM Sukhu and his wife Kamlesh Thakur, are members of the same House.

The by-elections for the three seats — Dehra, Nalagarh and Hamirpur — were held on July 10 following the acceptance of the resignation of three independent MLAs, Hoshiyar Singh, K L Thakur and Ashish Sharma.

The three independents along with six Congress rebels had voted in favour of the BJP nominee Harsh Mahajan in the Rajya Sabha polls held on February 27.

On March 22, the three independent MLAs submitted their resignation and joined the BJP the next day.

However, their resignation was accepted by the speaker on June 3. The three Independents were given tickets by the BJP from their respective seats but Ashish Sharma was the only MLA to retain his seats while the other two lost the by-polls to Congress rivals.

Talking to the media persons here, CM Sukhu accused the BJP of hatching a conspiracy to destabilise the government by horse-trading.

In his response, Leader of Opposition Jai Ram Thakur accused the Congress government of winning the by-polls by misusing the official machinery.

Sukhu hoped that the BJP would now shun the negative politics and cooperate with the government in pursuing the development agenda.