More than 50,000 tourists evacuated in Himachal: CM Sukhvinder Sukhu

SHIMLA : As Himachal Pradesh continued to battle nature's fury and its unforgiving fallout, Chief Minister Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu said more than 50,000 tourists have been evacuated by rescuers from across the state.

The Himachal CM also lauded officials across various state departments, who are involved in the ongoing rescue and evacuation work.

"We have successfully evacuated over 50,000 tourists from Himachal Pradesh in the last 48 hours, till 8 PM today. I would like to thank our administration and staff across various departments, who are working tirelessly and round the clock to restore our roads, power, water supply, and network connectivity," tweeted CM Sukhu.

Meanwhile, IPS Satwant Atwal took to her Twitter handle on Wednesday to say that 6 Israeli tourists had been transferred safely to the town of Manikaran, while another 37 were safe and in good health at Barshaini.

"POSITIVE from Manikaran, 6 Israelis have been brought to PP Manikaran and remaining 37 Israeli nationals are at Barshaini and all are safe and in healthy condition," tweeted IPS Atwal.

The IPS informed further on Twitter that about 95 people, including a foreign national, had been rescued and brought safely at Sangla, Chhitkul and Raksham areas of the state.

"POSITIVE 95 people including a foreign national rescued, and brought to a safe place at Sangla, Chhitkul and Raksham," tweeted the IPS.

The Himachal government on Wednesday said the state was limping back to normal and the evacuation process was underway amid heavy rainfall.

Speaking to ANI, principal secretary (Revenue and Disaster Management), Onkar Chand Sharma, said, "The situation is slowly returning to normal. Phone connectivity and internet connectivity have been restored in various parts of the state. The electricity situation has also improved. Various link roads have been opened. Evacuations are still underway."

Earlier, the Himachal CM said about 50 per cent of stranded tourists have been evacuated from the flood-hit regions, adding that the government's priority was to evacuate all stranded tourists.

"Our priority is to safely evacuate tourists and then focus on the restoration of electricity, power and water supply. Deputy CM and other ministers are also taking care of the situation. We have already evacuated around 50 per cent of the stranded tourists. Around Rs 4,000 crores worth of properties have been damaged," Sukhu said.

Earlier in the day, Sukhu conducted an aerial survey of flood-affected areas, saying that his government was working hard to restore road transport and power supply at the earliest.

Meanwhile, the Himachal Pradesh Public Service Competitive (Preliminary) Examination was pushed back to August 20 owing to incessant rainfall and damage to roads. The exam had earlier been scheduled on July 23.

As per data shared by the Disaster Management Authority, to date, a total of over 1000 roads are closed, nearly 2,000 electricity schemes affected and 1,200 water supply projects hampered in the state due to rain.

Further, incessant rainfall led to flash floods and landslides, causing significant damage to life and property in Manali.