Over one thousand people have been rescued from Lahaul valley out of these 147 have been airlifted and remaining have been evacuated by road. This was informed in the meeting held here today which was presided over by the Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur.The Chief Minister said that road would be cleared upto Baralacha by this evening. He said that all the rescued people were being taken for medical examinations. He said that efforts were being made to restore communication network in Lahaul valley. Chief Minister directed the officers to ensure adequate availability of essential commodities in the valley. He said that the team of BSNL would visit Sisu today for restoration of communication in the area. He said that the Government would provide all possible help to the BSNL in restoration work.Out of 18 towers of BSNL in the valley 7 were working properly.Jai Ram Thakur said that 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 that five choppers of Indian Air Force had been pressed into service to evacuate the stranded tourists and local people. He said 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.It was informed in the meeting that 18000 litre petrol and 27000 litre diesel was made available. He said that LPG and other food items were also in sufficient quantity. It was informed in the meeting that water Supply to Manali has been restored and Lahaul valley was also almost restored. He said that till the electricity supply was restored in the valley, efforts would be made to provide solar lamps and lights to the people. He said that small transformers would be airlifted from Kullu for replace damaged transformers.Chief Secretary Vineet Chawdhry, Additional Chief Secretary cum Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister Dr. Shrikant Baldi, Additional Chief Secretary Revenue and PWD Manisha Nanda, Additional Chief Secretary Tourism Ram Subhag Singh, Additional Chief Secretary Forests Tarun Kapoor, Director General of Police S.R.Mardi, Principal Secretary Onkar Sharma, Secretary Irrigation and Public Health Devesh Kumar, Director Food and Civil Supplies Madan Chauhan, Managing Director Food and Civil Supplies Corporation S.S. Guleria, Managing Director HPSEBL J.P. Kalta, Special Secretary Chief Minister D.C.Rana, Director Information and Public Relations Anupam Kashyap were present on the occasion among others.