Eight washed away in Himachal; Manali cut off
Shimla, Sep 24: Heavy rains in Himachal Pradesh on Monday claimed eight lives and hundreds, including school students, were stranded in the state as incessant rainfall for the third straight day triggered landslides and snapped over 200 road links, officials said.
The Chandigarh-Manali highway beyond Mandi town and the Pathankot-Chamba highway were hit. Manali, Chamba and Dalhousie towns were cut off from rest of the state.
Three people were washed away near Manali on Sunday night when their vehicle fell into the swollen Beas river.
Elsewhere, two people were washed away in the Parbati river in the Manikaran valley while one girl died near Bajaura. Both incidents occurred in Kullu, one of the worst affected districts by flash floods.
A man was drowned in a swollen rivulet near Palampur town in Kangra district, while another was killed when a factory building was washed away in a rivulet in Una district.
In Chamba district, around 1,000 school students have been moved to safer places in Holi area of Chamba. They had gathered for the 23rd District Primary School Sports Tournament.
After three consecutive days of incessant rains, over 200 roads in the state's interiors remained closed to traffic, stranding travellers and commuters.
While the picturesque tourist town Dalhousie recorded the highest rainfall at 180 mm, it was 120 mm in Manali and Kangra each and 108 mm in Palampur.
Shimla saw 23 mm of rain.
The highway that connects Manali with Leh in Jammu and Kashmir has been closed for traffic owing to heavy snow since Saturday, an official said.
There are chances of moderate to heavy rainfall in the state till Tuesday, a Met Department official told IANS.
As a precaution, the government has announced closure of all educational institutions in Chamba, Kullu, Sirmaur, Kangra, Kullu and Hamirpur districts till September 25.
Authorities said excess water was discharged from the Pandoh diversion dam, located 112 km upstream of Pong dam, as a precaution.
The dam is located on the Beas river in Mandi district. It diverts excess monsoon water towards the Pong dam. Otherwise, it diverts water towards the Satluj which feeds the Gobind Sagar reservoir of the Bhakra dam.
The water levels in the Bhakra dam's Gobind Sagar reservoir and the Pong dam reservoir stood at 1,655 feet and 1,385 feet respectively, an official told IANS.
Official data showed the maximum storage capacity for the Bhakra dam is 1,702 feet and 1,393 feet for the Pong dam reservoir.
Officials said more rains could aggravate the flood-like situation in Punjab and Haryana. All the major rivers of Himachal Pradesh -- the Satluj, Beas and Yamuna -- enter Punjab and Haryana.
The Cabinet was on Monday informed that 120 persons were rescued from Koksar in Lahaul-Spiti district. They included 12 Sikkim tourists.
Thirty-three were rescued from Phojal in Kullu. A majority of them were rescued by the Indian Air Force, an official statement said.
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Tension grips Bangladesh after unrest over uprising leader’s death; vandalism at several places
Dhaka (PTI): Bangladesh interim government on Friday urged citizens to resist violence by “a few fringe elements” as the body of a prominent July Uprising leader, who died in Singapore six days after he was shot, reached the capital.
Various parts of the country were rocked Thursday night by attacks and vandalism, including stone-hurling at the Assistant Indian High Commissioner's residence in Chattogram, after Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus confirmed Sharif Osman Hadi's death in a televised address to the nation.
There were, however, no reports of fresh violence since Friday morning.
Hadi, one of the leaders who had taken part in the student-led protests last year – termed as July Uprising - and a candidate for the scheduled February 12 general elections, died while undergoing treatment at a Singapore hospital six days after he was shot by unidentified men.
Body of Hadi, who was the spokesperson of the Inqilab Mancha, arrived at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport (HSIA) at around 6 pm on a Biman Bangladesh Airlines flight, amid tight security and widespread public mourning, state-run news agency Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha (BSS) said quoting Biman General Manager (Public Relations) Boshra Islam.
Members of the Bangladesh Army, Armed Forces Battalion (AFB) and police were deployed in large numbers to maintain security when Hadi's body was taken out of the airport, it added.
Hadi's passing away at the Singapore General Hospital triggered widespread mourning across political circles, activists of Inqilab Mancha and the general public, BSS said.
Yunus has declared a one-day state mourning on Saturday following Hadi's death.
Earlier on Thursday, soon after Yunus' announcement, protesters took to the streets and attacked offices of leading newspapers, vandalised 32 Dhanmandi with hammers, and also demolished an office of deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina's disbanded Awami League party in Rajshahi city.
Regarded as the centre point of Bangladesh’s pre-independence struggle for autonomy for decades, 32 Dhanmandi was largely demolished with excavators on February 5 this year. It was also set on fire soon after the August 5, 2024 fall of the then Awami League government and Hasina fleeing to India.
Protesters also hurled bricks and stones at the residence of the Assistant Indian High Commissioner in Chattogram at 1:30 am, but failed to cause any damage.
Police responded with tear gas and baton charges, dispersing the crowd and detaining 12 protesters. A few injuries were also reported.
Senior officials assured the assistant high commissioner of enhanced security.
In Dhaka, protesters attacked the office of a leading cultural group, Chhayanaut, and brought out the furniture, setting it on fire.
Sporadic violence was also reported from other parts of the country overnight.
Meanwhile, after the flight from Singapore landed in Dhaka, local media reports and videos shared on social media showed Hadi's followers lining up on both sides of the road from the airport to Shahbagh to receive him before his coffin was brought to the Dhaka University Central Mosque for a public meeting.
In a Facebook post, Inqilab Mancha announced that a janaza will be held in Bangladesh on Saturday after Zuhr prayers (afternoon) at Manik Mia Avenue in the capital.
Hadi was shot in the head last week by masked gunmen as he initiated his election campaign at central Dhaka’s Bijoynagar area. He died while undergoing treatment at a Singapore hospital after fighting for his life for six days.
On Thursday night, the National Citizen Party (NCP), a large offshoot of Students Against Discrimination (SAD) that led the July Uprising, which ousted the Hasina-led government, joined a mourning procession on the Dhaka University campus.
Supporters of the group chanted anti-India slogans alleging that Hadi’s assailants fled to India after committing the murder. They called upon the interim government to close the Indian high commission until they were returned.
“The interim government, until India returns assassins of Hadi Bhai, the Indian High Commission to Bangladesh will remain closed. Now or Never. We are in a war!” said Sarjis Alm, a key leader of NCP.
Starting Thursday through night, a group of people, believed to be part of the protesters, also attacked the offices of Bangla newspaper Prothom Alo’s office and the nearby Daily Star at the capital's Karwan Bazar, near the Shahbagh intersection.
Reports said they vandalised several floors while journalists and staff of the newspaper were trapped inside, and the mob ignited a fire in front of the building.
Critically ill former prime minister Khaleda Zia's Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) strongly condemned the vandalism and said that the Yunus-led interim government will have to shoulder its responsibility.
In his address on Thursday, Yunus vowed to bring those involved in Hadi's brutal murder to justice quickly, saying, “No leniency will be shown” to the killers.
“I sincerely call upon all citizens – keep your patience and restraint,” he said.
“No one can stop the democratic progress of this country through threat, terrorist activities or bloodshed,” he said, adding that the responsibility of realising Hadi's dream lies on the shoulders of the entire.
