Amidst the incessant rainfall in Himachal Pradesh, several buildings collapsed in Kullu due to the landslides in the district. In a video that surfaced on social media, buildings can be seen collapsing in Anni town of Kullu. At least eight to nine big buildings collapsed near a bus stand in Anni town.
After the visuals emerged, Himachal Pradesh CM Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu said that the administration had identified the risk and successfully evacuated the building two days prior. "Disturbing visuals emerge from Anni, Kullu, depicting a massive commercial building collapsing amidst a devastating landslide. It's noteworthy that the administration had identified the risk and successfully evacuated the building two days prior," Sukhu said on X, formerly Twitter.
Meanwhile, heavy rains in the first two days of the week triggered landslides in the hill state, claiming two lives and blocking over 200 more roads besides damaging some houses. The death toll in rain-related incidents in Shimla district in the past 10 days has increased to 26.
Shimla town has been the worst hit, with landslides and uprooted trees. Cracks have also developed in some houses in Shimla city, PTI reported. The meteorological office had issued an orange alert, warning of "heavy to very heavy rains" on Wednesday and Thursday.
On Wednesday, the Congress demanded that the central government announce a Rs 10,000 crore special package for Himachal Pradesh and declare the rain-related devastation there a "national disaster". Rajeev Shukla, Congress leader, and Himachal Pradesh in-charge, also urged Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla and Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar to allow all MPs in both Houses of Parliament to provide relief to the hill state through the MP Local Area Development Fund.
He also described the state's crisis as unprecedented, claiming that the northern state is not receiving the necessary national attention because it has never experienced such devastation in its history.
Shukla stressed that the current crisis in Himachal Pradesh is unprecedented, as the state has never experienced such severe damage in its history. "The state has suffered a Rs 13,000 crore loss. Highways have been destroyed. Heavy rainfall has harmed the entire Himachal region, both upper and lower reaches," Shukla was quoted as saying by news agency PTI.
The region has suffered substantial damage, including the destruction of highways and extensive disruption across upper and lower reaches, as per the PTI report. Shukla noted that the rains struck Himachal Pradesh in multiple waves: from July 7 to 15, then again from August 10 to 14, and now in the present period.