Himachal chief minister Jai Ram Thakur on Friday said over 1000 people have been rescued from Lahaul valley out of these 147 have been airlifted and remaining have been evacuated by road.
Presiding over a meeting here, Thakur said that road would be cleared upto Baralacha and all the rescued people were being taken for medical examinations. He said that efforts were being made to restore communication network in Lahaul valley.
The Chief Minister directed the officers to ensure adequate availability of essential commodities in the valley adding that the team of BSNL would visit Sisu for restoration of communication in the area. Out of 18 towers of BSNL in the valley 7 were working properly.
Thakur said during the Monsoon, the State had suffered losses of about Rs. 1479 crore and during the last four days alone the State had suffered losses of Rs. 220.29 crore. He said five choppers of Indian Air Force had been pressed into service to evacuate the stranded tourists and local people adding that the situation was being monitoring round the clock at district and State headquarters. He said that the Centre Government has released Rs. 122 crore as the first instalment for the State for undertaking immediate rehabilitation measures.
Chief Secretary Vineet Chawdhry and other top officials of the state government were present in the review meeting.