Around 24 engineering students from Hyderabad were feared to have been washed away Sunday evening in River Beas near Thalot on Manali-Kiratpur Highway, 40 Km from Mandi. The sightseeing trip to Himachal Pradesh turned tragic for the tourists when the students, including some girls who were taking photographs at the bank of the river, were swept away by gushing waters of Beas as discharge of water suddenly increased following its release from the reservoir of 126 MW Larji hydropower project. According to information available with authorities in Shimla on Sunday night, 18 boys and six girls were feared to have drowned. The discharge of water increased suddenly and caught everyone unawares as the Project authorities released the water apparently without any warning. Enraged people blocked the national highway after the incident. 5 students have lost their lives, while 19 continue to be missing. Now, the residents in the area allege that there might be an illegal sand mining link to the tragedy. TIMES NOW investigation revealed that special tracks have been created for lifting of sand near the Pandoh dam, and the floodgates on the fateful day may have been opened to facilitate the flushing out of silt. On suggestions that there was no warning, the Himachal Chief Minister said, "I object to the point that there was no warning. Even today water is very fast. If the gate is opened,the water level may go up by few inches." Union HRD Minister Smriti Irani, who visited the accident spot, said, "I was told by locals that there is a primary and secondary school functioning very close to the accident site and locals are extremely concerned about the safety of the children. My only plea to the HP government is that the concern that has been expressed by locals should be addressed immediately".
In Hyderabad, anxious parents and relatives rushed to the private engineering college at Bachupally seeking information about their dear ones. The parents and relatives complained that they did not receive any information regarding the incident from the college management. A group of 48 students studying 2nd year Electronics and Instrumentation at a city-based private engineering college were on a study tour of HP when the tragedy struck. "Why they (students) were taken to the river bed in the night hours? Did anyone inform us, were the parents told about this? They only collected Rs 15,000 from each student," Naik, father of a student Rambabu, who was part of the trip, said. "I had spoken to my son on June 5 last. His exams had completed on June 2 and he said the college management was taking them for the tour. Whether it is study tour or a picnic trip, nothing was informed by the management," said Naik, who hails from Nalgonda district. Meanwhile, 15 parents and relatives of students were taken to Delhi by an Air India flight. From Delhi, the parents will be taken to Chandigarh and subsequently to Kullu. The state government has already requisitioned the Defence Ministry for helicopter and aircraft for Chandigarh and thereafter to the mishap spot in Kullu. The state government will bear all the expenditure for hiring the air services. However, in a report by TIMES NOW correspondent Shamsher Kainth, the residents have alleged that illegal sand mining may be the reason behind the incident.
In a debate moderated by TIMES NOW's Anand Narasimhan and Padmaja Joshi, panelists -- Vimlendu Jha, Environmentalist & Founder, Swecha; Prof Maharaj Pandit, Head, Dept of Environmental Studies, DU; Medha Patkar, Social Activist; Aman Sinha, Leader, BJP; Priyanka Chaturvedi, Spokesperson, Congress -- discuss whether there is a sand mafia link to the fatal excursion in Himachal Pradesh.
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