Eight buildings collapse in Kullu, rains continue to lash Himachal
Shimla (PTI): At least eight buildings that had developed cracks and were declared unsafe following recent rains collapsed in Anni area of Himachal Pradesh's Kullu district on Thursday, throwing up large clouds of dust and debris. There were no casualties.
The buildings housing shops, banks and other commercial establishments had developed cracks four-five days ago, Sub Divisional Magistrate (SDM), Anni, Naresh Verma, who was at the spot, said.
The buildings were declared unsafe and vacated recently, he said.
The assessment of damage is being done and some other unsafe buildings along the National Highway-305 in Anni have also been vacated as a precautionary measure, the official added.
Rains, meanwhile, continued to lash several parts of Himachal. While Palampur received 137 mm of rain since Wednesday evening, Nahan received 93 mm, Shimla 79 mm, Dharamshala 70 mm and Mandi 57 mm.
As many as 120 people have died in rain-related incidents in the state this month while a total of 238 people have died and 40 are still missing since the onset of monsoon in Himachal Pradesh on June 24.
The rains have led to closure of 709 roads in the state.
Himachal saw three major spells of heavy rains this Monsoon. The first on July 9 and 10 led to large-scale destruction in Mandi and Kullu districts. Shimla and Solan districts were hit during the second spell on August 14 and 15 and Shimla city suffered heavy damage in the third spell on Tuesday night.
Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu on Wednesday said that Rs 165.22 crore had been released to all the deputy commissioners and the line departments in the state for the restoration of damaged works.
He has claimed that the state has suffered losses of Rs 10,000 crore so far due to the heavy rains.
VIDEO | Several buildings collapsed in Himachal Pradesh’s Kullu due to rain-triggered landslides in the district. More details are awaited.
— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) August 24, 2023
(Source: Third Party) pic.twitter.com/hxDbYgzoQJ
#WATCH | Himachal Pradesh: Several houses collapsed due to landslides in Anni town of Kullu district.
— ANI (@ANI) August 24, 2023
(Visuals confirmed by police) pic.twitter.com/K4SkRy5bjk
Disturbing visuals emerge from Anni, Kullu, depicting a massive commercial building collapsing amidst a devastating landslide.
— Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu (@SukhuSukhvinder) August 24, 2023
It's noteworthy that the administration had identified the risk and successfully evacuated the building two days prior. pic.twitter.com/cGAf0pPtGd
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Two injuries, one DNF, a DQ as India end messy World Relays campaign
Gaborone (Botswana) (PTI): Amoj Jacob and Ragul Kumar got injured during the men's 4x400m and 4x100 races respectively as India ended their World Athletics Relays campaign in disappointment on the second day of competitions here on Sunday.
The Indian camp had high hopes of making the 2027 World Championships in the men's 4x400m relay but the team did not finish (DNF) the race as Jacob suffered cramps and pulled out of the race after taking the baton from the first leg runner Dharamveer Choudhary. Rajesh Ramesh and Vishal TK were to run in the third and fourth legs.
Those teams which could not qualify for the 2027 Beijing World Championships by reaching the final round of each of the six relay events on Saturday were given another chance in the second qualification round on Sunday.
The top two teams in each of the two heats (in all six relay events) booked the Beijing ticket on Sunday.
India will now have to try and qualify for the World Championships through the Top Lists of the World Athletics, which is a long and tedious process.
In the men's 4x100m race, third leg runner Ragul Kumar fell down the track after failing to hand over the baton inside the exchange zone to fourth leg runner Gurindervir Singh, which clearly showed the lack of coordination among the runners.
Harsh Santosh Raut and Animesh Kujur ran the first two legs.
The Indian quartet was disqualified and Kumar was seen being taken away from the Field of Play with the help of the volunteers.
It was a comedy of errors in the case of the women's 4x100m race, which saw the baton being dropped during an exchange between first leg runner Tamanna and second runner Nithya Gandhe, though the Indians finished the race in 53.09 seconds.
Gandhe started running quite a distance, but after realising that the baton was not in her hand, she turned and ran back to pick it up.
The only silver-lining for the Indian contingent was the national record time in the mixed 4x100m relay race, though the quartet of Ragul Kumar, Nithya Gandhe, Animesh Kujur and Sneha SS finished sixth in heat number two with a time of 41.35 seconds, bettering the previous national mark of 42.30 seconds set in March in Chandigarh.
The mixed 4x400m relay quartet of Theerthesh P Shetty, Kumari Saloni, Nihal William and Rashdeep Kaur ended at fifth in heat number one with a time of 3 minutes and 19.40 seconds.
On Saturday, all the five Indian relay teams had failed to make it to the respective final rounds and thus missed out on the 2027 World Championships berths.
