Heavy rain wreaked havoc in the Chopal subdivision of Shimla district as around 1,300 apple and 70 pear trees in the Paudiya panchayat were swept away and a 100-metre stretch of a link road connecting the panchayat to Nerwa, Chopal and Shimla were damaged due to a massive landslide in the wee hours of today.
No loss of life was reported in the incident. As per the reports, the landslide that occurred around 4 am destroyed apple orchards belonging to 10 villagers. The orchards belonged to Amar Singh, Pratap Singh, Mohan Singh, Gyan Singh, Joginader Singh Torta, Balbir Singh Torta, Prakash, Shyam, Naresh Kumar, all residents of Tarapur village, and Sunder Singh, a resident of Sarahan village under the Paudiya panchayat. Besides, 300 apple boxes belonging to Chet Ram were washed away in the landslide. Officials of the Revenue and Public Works Departments reached the spot to assess the loss.
Tapinder Mohan, pradhan of Paudiya panchayat, said the orchardists were worst affected as the apple and pears trees had been washed away in the incident. He said these apple trees were planted around 10 years ago and the fruit was already harvested.