Himachal tragedy: Sand mafia may be behind sudden release of water, say locals

CHANDIGARH: Even as the search for the missing students who were swept away by a flash flood in Himachal Pradesh continued on Wednesday, villagers around the accident site say they suspect the hands of a sand mafia in the sudden gush of water from an upstream reservoir.

Three days after tragedy struck the students of VNR Vignana Jyothi Engineering College in Hyderabad, authorities could pull out only half a dozen bodies from the Beas river. Another 18 are still missing.

They were caught in the rush of water when it was released suddenly from the upstream hydro-power project. Locals say when released quickly, water gushes with great force, bringing along large quantities of slit that benefits sand miners.

According to locals, water is usually released after 9 PM.

“It is only to facilitate the sand miners that the hydro project authorities release water in such huge quantity at times. Otherwise they got a system to follow, whereby gates have to be opened gradually. I don’t understand the compulsion to do this, until or unless some motive is there,” said a retired senior engineer with vast experience in Hydro Projects.

While the blame game is on and the state has marked an inquiry against the project officials, most politicians from both Congress and BJP are avoiding any direct comment.

There have also been incidents of officials being attacked in HP allegedly by the sand mafia.