25 engineering students swept away by the Beas near the Larji Dam between Mandi and Kullu ,Himachal Pradesh Sunday June 08,2014

 

Combined teams of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), police and paramilitary on Monday recovered the bodies of four of the 25 engineering students swept away by the Beas near the Larji Dam between Mandi and Kullu on Sunday June 08,2014

Search operations for the remaining 21 were extended 50km downstream as the tragedy played out on TV screens across the nation through the day.

Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh ordered a magisterial probe into the episode, and suspended resident engineer Mandeep Kumar - who maintains the warning hooter was sounded - and two other Larji officials.

A case of negligence had also been registered against the Larji officials. 

The recovered bodies of 3 females and one male were identified as - Akula Vijetha, Gampala Aishwarya, Lakshmi Gyathri Appana and Vanothu Rambabu

The survivors of Sunday's disaster were in a daze as they recalled how they saw their friends washed away by the rapidly swelling river currents in a matter of minutes.
"Only a few managed to reach the bank. Some were trapped in the river and cried for help. We were around when we heard them. But it was too late… around a dozen were swept away in front of our eyes," Chetan, a survivor, said.

As many as 48 students in the second year of the B.Tech (Electronics and Instrumentation) course along with three of the faculty of the VNG Vignan Jyothi Engineering College, had gone on the study tour paying Rs.15,000 each.

The tragedy occurred near Thalot when students from Hyderabad-based VNR Vignana Jyothi Institute of Engineering & Technology, were clicking pictures on and near the river banks. 

 

After getting the news about the tragedy, Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhara Rao directed the state Home Minister Nayani Narasimha Reddy to lead a team of senior officials, including police, to air dash to the tragedy site and meet the distraught families. 

Meanwhile, 15 parents and relatives of students were taken to Delhi by the Telangana Govt by an Air India flight. 
From Delhi, the parents will be taken to Chandigarh and subsequently to Kullu

COURT DEMANDS STATUS REPORT

Taking suo motu notice of the Beas tragedy involving Hyderabad-based engineering students, the Himachal High Court on Monday directed the state government to file a status report by 16 June.
The High Court treated the news reports in this regard as a PIL and issued a notice to the state government to file the status report within a week.

Himachal Pradesh HC Grants Compensation Wednesday June 25,2014

The Himachal Pradesh High Court on Wednesday June 25,2014 ordered an interim compensation of Rs 5 lakh each to the families of 24 students of a Hyderabad engineering college, who were washed away in Beas river.

The compensation will be jointly paid by the dam and the college management.

A division bench of Himachal HC, which treated a media report as public interest litigation, ordered the Larji Dam authorities and the VNR Vigyan Jyoti Institute of Engineering and Technology, Hyderabad, to pay Rs 5 lakh per victim as interim compensation.

"We deem it proper to exercise the guess work and award, by way of interim measure, Rs 5 lakh each in favour of the parents of each of the students, which shall be borne by the Institute and H.P. State Electricity Board Limited in equal shares, i.e. 50 per cent each. The amount be deposited by or before the next date (July 9)," the division bench comprising Justice Mansoor Ahmad Mir, Chief Justice and Justice Tarlok Singh Chauhan observed. 

The HC, besides the Larji dam authorities and officials (run by the H.P. State Electricity Board Limited), also held the staff of the VNR Vigyan Jyoti Institute of Engineering and Technology equally responsible in the matter.

"We are of the view that, prima facie, there is evidence for holding that respondents have performed their duties negligently and because of their utter carelessness, callousness and negligence, 24 budding Engineers have lost their lives," the court observed.

On June 9, the Himachal Pradesh HC had taken suo motu cognizance of the incident. 

The interim order came after the state and the V.N.R. Vignana Jyothi Institute of Engineering and Technology filed a status report in connection with the case in the court on Tuesday June 24,2014

Besides, it asked the state government, the Larji authorities and the college management to submit a fresh status report by July 09,2014

Note

The students and the tour operator were swept away June 8 after water from a nearby hydropower project dam was released without warning. The engineering students were on a tour to Manali.