Some Mandi areas still cut-off, drones deliver medicines, ration to the affected
A 15-kg ration kit was delivered by a drone to Bayla village in the disaster-affected Janjehli region. A team led by team captain Nutan and comprising eight SDRF personnel, two Mandi police officers, and three members of a private drone-operating company played a key role in executing the operation.
Panchayati Raj Joint Director Surender Mohan said, 'Drones are being used to deliver relief material and essential supplies to disaster-hit areas quickly. Today, ration kits were sent by a drone. In another operation, medicines were delivered to around 50 people in Odidhar, using a separate drone. Additionally, in Thunadi and Lambathach, essential household items and important documents are being safely retrieved from damaged homes.'
Drones are also being used to search for persons missing following the flash-floods induced by the cloudbursts. .
A senior SDRF official said, 'The company operating drones is also providing proper training to personnel in operating the drones.'
Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu said the government opened almost all major roads in disaster-affected areas, and efforts to open link roads were underway.
'The government acted swiftly to restore essential services in the affected areas.50 JCB machines were engaged to open roads in the affected areas from the very first day. The road up to Chail Chowk, Bagsyad, Thunag, Janjehli and Chhatri will be brought under CRIF so that it can be made a composite road,' Sukhu told mediapersons at Sundernagar in Mandi district on Friday.
During his three-day visit to Mandi district, Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu went to various disaster-affected areas under Seraj and Nachan Assembly constituencies to take stock of the damage caused by heavy rains and cloudbursts.
The chief minister said, 'The road and bridges from Thunag to Janjehli have suffered extensive damage. At present, it has been restored temporarily. There will be no shortage of money for restoration works. The government has, so far, released Rs 7 crore for relief and rescue works so that the restoration work can be expedited further.'
A total of 224 roads in the state, including National Highway 3 (Atari to Leh) and 166 other roads, were closed in Mandi on Friday morning, according to the State Emergency Operation Centre (SEOC).
Over 150 transformers and 800 water supply schemes have been disrupted in the state, of which 143 and 204, respectively, are in Mandi district.
He said that the Deputy CM and PWD minister had already visited and assessed damages in the disaster-affected areas.
Sukhu said, 'There has been unprecedented loss in these areas, and the government and the district administration are providing relief and other material to the affected families day and night. Huge losses of livestock, crops and vegetables were also reported. The state government will provide compensation to the affected families for buying clothes and also for the loss of livestock, besides all possible help from its resources.'
The CM said he would seek permission from the central government to give forest land to the people so that they could be settled in a safer place.
He sought the support of BJP MPs for the state government's proposal to obtain the central government's permission to relocate affected individuals to a safer location. Sukhu said, 'In the next two days, Technical Education Minister Rajesh Dharmani will be in the disaster-affected areas to take stock of relief and rescue operations.'
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