Himachal high court orders govt to submit report by June 16

Manali: The Himachal Pradesh High Court considered the case of the tragic incident of VNR VJIET students of Hyderabad as sumo motto and ordered the state government to submit the consolidated report by June 16. The honourable judge fumed over the project management authorities and wondered why no cautionary announcement was made before the releasing of water from the dam. He said that the dereliction of duty was blatant in this incident.

It is worth recollecting that tragedy struck 24 engineering students from Hyderabad when they were off to an excursion in Manali. A tourist visit became a dead trap for the young students from Hyderabad on Sunday. At least 24 students from an engineering college in Hyderabad drowned in the Beas River near Thalot village, Mandi district of Himachal Pradesh.

It was learnt that the incident followed a large quantity of water released from large reservoir on Sunday. The students from the VNR Engineering College were on a trip to Himachal Pradesh for an excursion. It is learnt that hundreds of cusecs of water was discharged from Large Hydro Power Project's reservoir in the evening around 7pm on Sunday when the students were clicking pictures on the banks of the river at Thalot.

According to the police inputs from the site of tragedy, there were 6 girls and 18 boys who were heading towards Mandi from Manali on a bus when they decided to get down and walk to the river bank to take pictures with the Beas in the background.

A rescue team was launched with professional divers who tried their best to save the youngsters' life. Though the efforts of the police and people from nearby villages were put in to rescue the students, the search went in vain due to lack of light.

The new HRD minister Smriti Irani is on her way to the visit the site. Smriti Irani expressed her grief over the shocking incident and assured the state of all possible assistance from the Centre.