Landslide: 2 injured on Chandigarh, Manali highway

MANALI: A massive landslide triggered by heavy rain blocked the Chandigarh-Manali National Highway near Vindravani, Mandi, on Saturday night. The highway was resumed for traffic late night but another landslide on Sunday morning blocked the highway and some boulders hit a bus injuring two passengers.
The landslide hit a state run HRTC bus at about 8am on Sunday and two persons sustained minor injuries.Both the persons were given first aid at primary health centre, Pandoh, and were relieved immediately. A steep mountain face near Vindravani is continuously sliding down at the highway. Public works department is struggling to keep the highway open and they are continuously clearing the debris. Mandi administration has deployed police and machines at the spot to monitor the situation.
Public works department (national highway) executive engineer Raujif Sheikh said they received information about landslide on Saturday late night. "We cleared debris between 11pm and 1:30am and highway was opened for vehicular traffic. But another landslide on Sunday morning blocked the highway again. We had to clear debris in shifts to keep the traffic moving. Meanwhile, more debris was falling at the highway. We could clear highway completely only by 3:30pm," he said.
It is impossible for the PWD to clear the sliding mountain face as it is steep, tall and unreachable. According to officials, another downpour may trigger massive landslide. So, PWD has deployed its machinery in advance and police are monitoring the save movement of traffic.